Tourism Management 20 (1999) 645}654

Work in progress

International tourists and road safety in Australia:developing a national research and management programme

Je!rey Wilks!,*, Barry Watson!, Ian J. Faulks"! Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety } Queensland, Queensland University of Technology, Beams Road, Carseldine, Qld 4034, Australia

"Staysafe, Joint Standing Committee on Road Safety, Parliament House, Macquarie Street, Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia

Received 4 August 1998; accepted 7 November 1998

Abstract

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of injury death for international tourists. This makes road safety an important issue fortourism authorities. Unfortunately, as it is in other areas of tourist health, the common response from the travel and tourism industryis to remain silent about this problem and to leave any mishaps in the hands of insurers. At the same time, but for di!erent reasons,international tourists are not usually targeted for road safety initiatives by transport authorities. Given that there are considerable&hidden' costs associated with international tourists and motor vehicle crashes, the topic should be of concern to both tourism andtransport groups. This paper examines issues concerned with driving in unfamiliar surroundings for international visitors in Australia,and proposes a national research and management programme to guide policy and planning in the area. ( 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd.All rights reserved.

Keywords: Tourist road safety; Tourist accidents; Australian tourism accidents

1. Introduction

The literature on international tourists and road safetyis very limited. As Hargarten (1991, p. 106) notes, &&Fewstudies have documented the extent of deaths and non-fatal injuries due to motorised vehicles.''However, where"gures are available it is clear that motor vehicle crashesare the leading cause of injury death for internationaltourists (Wilks, 1998). This makes road safety an impor-tant issue for tourism authorities. Unfortunately, as it isin other areas of tourist health, the common responsefrom the travel and tourism industry is to remain silentabout the problem and to quietly leave any mishaps inthe hands of insurers (Wilks & Oldenburg, 1995).

This response is inadequate in several respects. First,while travel organisers may wish to avoid negative pub-licity by keeping silent about any injuries experienced bytheir customers, the media are not so constrained (Wilkset al., 1996). Tourist injuries or deaths make dramaticmedia stories, as evidenced by the recent Queensland

*Corresponding author. Tel.: 0061-073864-4589; fax: 0061-07-3864-4592; e-mail: carrs-q@qut.edu.au

case of missing American scuba divers Thomas andEileen Lonergan (Metcalf, 1998). These sensationaliststories can irreparably damage the reputation of a touristdestination. Second, without industry acknowledgmentof some injuries occurring, there will be no reliable statis-tics available to show that a particular destination isrelatively safe compared with somewhere else (Wilks& Oldenburg, 1995). This means sensationalist mediastories cannot be countered or balanced with accuratefacts and "gures (Wilks & Atherton, 1994). Third, evenminor cases of injury or illness will impact on enjoymentof a vacation (Wilks et al., 1995). Since word-of-mouthreferrals are one of the main sources of information inholiday decision making (Sweeney & Associates, 1991),these negative experiences can substantially a!ect newand repeat business for the tourism industry. As noted byHorovitz and Jurgens-Panak (1992), a customer witha bad service experience will relate their negative story to,on average, 11 other people. A minor tra$c incident, oreven a &near miss' may become a negative story whentravellers return home. Finally, injuries to travellers re-sult in increased insurance premiums, which in turn arepassed on as increases in the price of the tourism product.Failure to address motor vehicle crashes only serves to

0261-5177/99/$ - see front matter ( 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.PII: S 0 2 6 1 - 5 1 7 7 ( 9 9 ) 0 0 0 3 4 - 5

Bold 5gure"State share of fatal crashes involving international drivers(Bracket "gure)"State share of all fatal crashes

Fig. 1. Fatal crashes in Australia involving international drivers. (Re-produced from Federal O$ce of Road Safety (1995), with permission).

make local car rental agencies less price competitive inthe global market (Wigmore, 1998a,b).

While the tourism industry has choosen to remainsilent in relation to motor vehicle crashes because theseinjuries result in bad publicity, for quite separate reasonstransport authorities have traditionally failed to includeinternational tourists as a target group for road safetyinitiatives. In part, this re#ects the low priority assignedto this problem, based on the relatively small number oftourist fatalities that occur each year (Wilks & Watson,1998). In addition, road safety authorities in Australiahave traditionally relied on broad, population-basedmeasures to manage driver behaviour, such as the use ofmass media publicity campaigns to support tra$c lawenforcement programmes like Random Breath Testingand speed cameras (Watson et al., 1996). While an ap-proach of mass advertising and mass invigilation hasproven very e!ective with the general community, it isunlikely to be as e!ective with groups who have not beenregularly exposed to these campaigns and policing tacti-cs, such as international visitors.

Given the lack of speci"c attention directed to thisissue, it is not surprising that there is a lack of reliableinformation on which to develop road safety initiativesfor the growing body of international travellers world-wide. This paper brie#y reviews the information current-ly available concerning international visitors and roadcrashes in Australia and identi"es potential contribut-ing factors requiring further examination. A researchand management plan is then proposed to guide thedevelopment of road safety initiatives.

2. Fatal crashes involving international drivers

In Australia the number of fatal motor vehicle crashesinvolving international tourists is relatively low in abso-lute terms. Based on the outcome of coroners' investiga-tions into fatal crashes for the years 1988, 1990 and 1992,a report by the Federal O$ce of Road Safety (FORS,1995) found that there were about 30 fatal crashes involv-ing drivers holding a foreign or international driver'slicence in Australia each year. Approximately 32 peoplewere killed in these crashes and a further three interna-tional tourists were killed as pedestrians each year.

While the overall numbers are small, fatal crashes arenot evenly distributed across Australia, as illustrated inFig. 1.

The map shows that over half the crashes occur inNew South Wales (25%) and Queensland (26%), whichare the two most popular state destinations for interna-tional tourists (Bureau of Tourism Research, 1996). How-ever, when a comparison is made against each state'sshare of all fatal crashes, Western Australia and theNorthern Territory are over-represented for touristcrashes.

From a transport perspective these crashes representonly 1.5% of all fatal crashes in Australia (FORS, 1995).For many road safety workers, it is understandable thatinternational tourists would not be highlighted as a pri-ority target group. A number of other areas of roadtrauma are also seldom examined because they are seenas minor contributors to the overall road trauma prob-lem, including school child pedestrian trauma, deathsarising from police chases, and safety issues associatedwith vehicles towing caravans and trailers.

3. Non-fatal crashes

Not all motor vehicle crashes involving internationaltourists result in a fatality. Indeed, fatalities can be con-sidered merely the &tip of the iceberg' (Wilks & Watson,1998), with the &hidden costs' including other forms ofinjury, as well as property damage. Based on QueenslandTransport (1997) crash data, Table 1 illustrates this pointfor crashes involving international drivers that occurredduring the period 1992}1997.

In Queensland, a &fatal' crash is de"ned as a road crashwhere at least one person dies within 30 days as a resultof injuries sustained in that crash (Queensland Trans-port, 1997). A &hospitalisation' crash relates to caseswhere at least one person is formally admitted to hospi-tal. &Medical treatment' refers to instances where a personis treated at hospital outpatients or other medical centre,while a minor injury covers cases where someone re-ceived "rst aid treatment only. A &property damage only'

646 J. Wilks et al. / Tourism Management 20 (1999) 645}654

Table 1Queensland road crashes involving international drivers by severity ofcrash: 1992}1997

Year Fatal Hospitalisation Medical Minor Property Totaltreatment injury damage

1992 6 63 61 30 197 3571993 10 63 71 35 209 3881994 4 63 67 32 217 3831995 9 65 109 56 230 4691996 4 78 96 57 227 4621997 6 65 99 51 202 423

crash refers to those crashes where at least one vehiclewas towed away or the damage cost was estimated to begreater than $2500, but no one was injured. In Queens-land, all drivers are obliged to report crashes meeting theabove criteria to the police, under Section 31 of the¹ra.c Act (1949).

The point to be made from Table 1 is that over thesix-year period, the "gures have remained relativelystable, suggesting that the problem, if unattended, willcontinue unabated. Moreover, unless there is some coor-dinated intervention, the cost impact of these crashes willsurely rise substantially with the larger number of inter-national tourists driving throughout Australia pre andpost the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

4. The Sydney 2000 Olympic Games

During 1996 there were 3,829,800 international visitorsto Australia aged 15 years and over, which representedan increase of 12% over the 3,422,000 who visited in 1995(Bureau of Tourism Research, 1996). Not withstandingrecent changes in the Asian economies, the number ofinternational visitors to Australia is forecast to rise to 4.6million in the year 2000, the main attraction beingthe Olympic Games in Sydney (Australian TourismForecasting Council, 1998).

In addition to the Games themselves, research suggeststhat the &Olympic E!ect' will be broadly felt throughoutAustralia at least until the year 2004. For example, 50%of the extra visitors attracted by the Games are expectedto visit Queensland, 25% Victoria, 13% Western Austra-lia and 9% the Northern Territory (Department of Sport& Tourism (1998)).

Based on current "gures, 43% of all internationalvisitors drive a private or company car while in Australia,15% rent a car, 2% drive a motor-home or camper van,and 3% use a four wheel drive vehicle (Bureau ofTourism Research, 1996). On these "gures, pre and post-Olympic Games road travel will involve larger numbersof tourists than usual moving about in all Australianstates and territories.

In terms of health and safety for travellers, Australiahas a very good reputation (Wilks & Oldenburg, 1995).The country can boast clean drinking water, hygienicwaste disposal systems, and well equipped and coor-dinated medical services. There is a low incidence ofinfectious disease in the country, and Australia is fortu-nate not to be greatly a!ected by problems of crime,violence and terrorism that undermine tourism in othercountries (Ryan, 1993). Travellers with an internationaldriver's licence can readily rent a motor vehicle inAustralia without any driving preparation or restrictions.This freedom is, however, a two-edged sword, for manyproblems experienced by international drivers appear tostem from driving in unfamiliar surroundings withoutadequate preparation.

5. Driving in unfamiliar surroundings

The Federal O$ce of Road Safety (FORS, 1995) reportdrew attention to certain characteristics of the crashesinvolving overseas drivers which appeared to be a prod-uct of driving in unfamiliar surroundings. In particular,the three issues of driver fatigue, not wearing a seat belt,and overturning their vehicle were more prominent infatal crashes involving overseas tourists, than for Austra-lians. While excessive speed and drink driving were alsoimplicated in the fatal crashes involving overseas drivers,these factors were less prominent for tourists than theywere for Australian drivers.

Problems arising from driving in unfamiliar surround-ings are not unique to overseas visitors in Australia. Anytourist visiting a new destination is exposed to conditionsthey do not normally encounter, and this places them atincreased risk for a motor vehicle crash (Waller & Brink,1987). While the standard concerns of speed, alcoholand fatigue apply universally to tourist drivers, Australiahas some speci"c issues that should be brought to theattention of international drivers. Most important are:driving on the left-hand side of the road; the legal require-ments to always wear a seat belt; a lower legal bloodalcohol limit than in many other countries overseas;an awareness of the size of Australia and the distancesinvolved when planning each day of travel; uniqueanimal hazards; and "nally, unusual road and environ-mental conditions (Wilks, 1999; Wilks & Watson, 1998).The signi"cance of these issues can be demonstrated bycomparing driving conditions in Australia with those ofother countries.

6. Driving conditions in other countries

The International Visitor Survey (Bureau of TourismResearch, 1996) identi"es the origin of the main overseastourist groups visiting Australia each year. Table 2 shows

J. Wilks et al. / Tourism Management 20 (1999) 645}654 647

Table 2Key tra$c laws and road conditions in the home country of visitors to Australia

Country/areaof residence

Number ofinternationalvisitors: 1996

Side of roaddriven on inhome country

Miles ofroad inhomecountry

Roadsignage(mile/km)

Bloodalcohollimit in homecountry(g/100 ml)

Maximum speed limit

Urban Rural!

Compulsory seatbelt wearinglaws

Japan 813100 Left 652 260 km 0.05 50 km/h 100 km/h Front onlyNew Zealand 671900 Left 57 402 km 0.08 50 km/h 100 km/h Front & rearUnited Kingdom 367500 Left 213 326 mile 0.08 30 m/h 70 m/h Front & rearUnited States 316900 Right 3 806 173 mile 0.08}0.10 30 m/h 65 m/h 49 states } front

12 states }also rearKorea 227900 Right 21 622 km 0.05 50 km/h 120 km/h Front onlySingapore 222800 Left 1 339 km 0.08 50 km/h 80 km/h Front & rearTaiwan 159400 Right 10 778 km 0.05 60 km/h 100 km/h Front & rearIndonesia 154400 Left 22 115 km Not

applicable 60 km/h 100 km/h Not compulsoryHong Kong 153200 Left 651 km 0.08 50 km/h 100 km/h Front & rearMalaysia 134400 Left 11 247 km 0.05 50 km/h 110 km/h Front onlyGermany 125400 Right 361 622 km 0.08 50 km/h Unrestricted Front & rearThailand 88 900 Left 17 898 km 0.05 50 km/h 90 km/h Front onlyCanada 61 100 Right 306 024 km 0.08 50 km/h 80 km/h Front & rearChina 54 000 Right 435 000 km * 30 km/h 110 km/h Front onlyPNG 43500 Left 10 401 km 0.08 60 km/h 100 km/h Not compulsorySouth Africa 42 600 Left 206 600 km 0.08 60 km/h 120 km/h Front & rearItaly 40 600 Right 178 000 km 0.08 50 km/h 130 km/h Front & rearSwitzerland 39 400 Right 37 900 km 0.05 50 km/h 120 km/h Front & rearNetherlands 38 800 Right 40 457 km 0.05 50 km/h 120 km/h Front & rearFrance 34 900 Right 493 400 km 0.05 50 km/h 130 km/h Front & rearNew Caledonia 23 500 Right 3 206 km 0.05 60 km/h 80 km/h Front & rearFiji 21 200 Left 1 751 km 0.35 50 km/h 80 km/h Front onlyAustralia Left 536 685 km 0.05 60 km/h 110 km/h Front & rear

! This maximum may only apply on high quality roads, such as freeways.

some of the driving conditions in their home country forthese main groups, and also the comparative informationfor Australia. The table was developed from a variety ofsources (Austroads, 1996; Bureau of Tourism Research,1996; Health Canada, 1994; Kinkaid, 1986), includingmany telephone calls to overseas embassies and consu-lates, since this was the only way to gain comparativedata. While all attempts were made to ensure thatthe "gures are accurate, the reader is cautioned to use thetable only as an indicator of driving conditions in thelisted countries and to check for changing regulations.

6.1. Side of the road driven on in home country

As can be seen in Table 2, many visitors to Australiacome from countries where they drive on the right side ofthe road, rather than the left. Indeed, an analysis of thedata in Table 2 shows that almost 30% of the visitors toAustralia in 1996 came from right-side driving countries.More recently, the economic downturn in Asia has tem-porarily reduced the level of visitors from regional areaswhich are predominantly left-side drive nations (e.g.,Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand). At thesame time new forecasts predict a substantial rise in the

number of visitors from right-side driving nations such asNorth America, France, Italy and the Netherlands (Aus-tralian Tourism Forecasting Council, 1998).

The transition from familiar driving on the right-handside of the road at home to the left in Australia may bedi$cult for some international visitors. This transitionhas been recognised as a major contributing factor to carcrashes in Australia's left-side driving neighbour, NewZealand (Page & Meyer, 1996). Similar concerns havebeen found in relation to the transition from left-side toright-side driving among tourists on the Island of Crete(Petridou et al., 1997).

To date there has been no empirical investigation ofthe problems experienced by visitors to Australia fromright-hand side of the road driving countries. However,there is considerable anecdotal evidence from car rentaloperators and insurance companies to support this topicas a key area for education and advice to intendingoverseas drivers. It is also worth noting that German,Canadian and American visitors, all from right-hand sideof the road driving countries, are among the main visitorgroups renting cars in Australia (Bureau of TourismResearch, 1996). This highlights the need to target in-formation on this topic to speci"c tourist groups.

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6.2. Miles of road in home country

The miles of road in the home country provides apartial indicator of the likely exposure of drivers tolong distance driving. As can be seen in Table 2, amajority of the visitor countries have much smallerroad networks than Australia. However, this measuredoes not fully illustrate the vastness of Australia, nor thedistance between major population areas that drivers canencounter. For example, while Japan has a large roadnetwork, it is relatively compact given the geography ofthe country.

Wilks and Watson (1998) point out that one of thehardest concepts to convey to the "rst time visitor toAustralia is the size of the country and the vast distancesthat can be travelled. Fatigue has been identi"ed asa particular problem for international drivers (FORS,1995), especially if they are tired from a long interna-tional #ight even before they begin their journey by road(Wilks & Watson, 1998). &Driver Reviver' rest-stops, withdetailed information on distances from the nearest townand amenities available have been emphasised in a newQueensland motoring guide (Main Roads, 1998). This isa very positive approach that should be widely marketedto overseas drivers, since fatigue can clearly compoundother potential problems encountered in an unfamiliardriving environment (e.g., heat exhaustion, glare, roaddust).

6.3. Blood alcohol limit in home country

The legal blood alcohol limit (BAL) in Australia forexperienced drivers is 0.05 g/100 ml and zero (or 0.02 insome States) for novice drivers and professional drivers.The use of a lower limit for novice drivers is becomingcommon around the world. However, to avoid confusion,Table 2 only reports the maximum BAL applying in eachcountry.

As can be seen from Table 2, many countries havea BAL that exceeds that in Australia. This suggeststhat drivers from these countries may have di!erentexpectations regarding the amount of alcohol they canconsume before driving. It should be noted that the riskof being involved in a crash increases dramatically withblood alcohol concentrations exceeding 0.05. Forexample, while the probability of being involved ina crash at 0.05 is double that of a sober driver, the risk ismore than 10 times at 0.10 (Breakspeare & Starmer,1986).

In addition, a major determinant of drink drivingbehaviour will be a driver's perceived risk of being appre-hended for the o!ence. In this regard, the introductionof random breath testing (RBT) throughout Australiahas proven very e!ective in reducing the incidence ofdrink driving and alcohol-related crashes in this country(Henstridge et al., 1997). The general deterrent value of

RBT appears to be linked to its high visibility, the inten-sity of the testing, and the use of supporting mass-mediapublicity (Homel, 1988).

Forms of random breath testing operate in a numberof other countries, including Finland, Sweden, France,the Netherlands and New Zealand (Watson et al., 1994).While many other countries have been able to achievereductions in the level of alcohol-related crashes withoutusing this approach, the reasons for their success areoften unclear (Sweedler, 1997). Over and above this, it isunlikely that drivers from these countries would beaccustomed to the levels of drink driving enforcementcommon in Australia.

6.4. Seat belt wearing laws

Australia is among the world leaders in introducingcompulsory seat belt (and child restraint) legislation andsupporting it with high levels of enforcement and public-ity (Bhattacharyya & Layton, 1979; Trinca et al., 1988).Australia has required seat belts to be worn in all seatingpositions in passenger vehicles for many years. However,this is not always the case in other countries (Hargarten,1992). For example, the United States has been relativelyslow to introduce compulsory seat belt wearing. Indeed,while 49 states now have compulsory seat belt wearing infront seating positions, only 12 states require it in the rear(Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, 1998). Similarly,Hong Kong only introduced compulsory seat belt wear-ing in the rear seat of passenger cars in 1996 (Hong KongTransport Department, 1997). It is perhaps not surpris-ing then that many of the international drivers involvedin fatal crashes in Australia are found to be unbelted(FORS, 1995).

6.5. Other diwerences in driving conditions

Many countries utilise road signs conforming withinternational standards (Australian Automobile Associ-ation, 1998). While Australia is progressively adoptingthe use of these international signs, overseas drivers arelikely to encounter many signs unique to this country,particularly warning signs relating to wildlife (Browne,1998).

Australia, like the majority of countries, uses kilo-metres as the unit of measure for distance and speed.While most visitors will be familiar with this, some over-seas drivers will need to make a transition from signagepresented in miles per hour, particularly those from theUnited Kingdom and the United States.

The maximum speed limit in Australia on highquality roads (i.e., freeways) is predominantly 110 km/h(Fildes & Lee, 1993). This may prove restrictive for thosedrivers who come from countries where there are nospeed limits on high quality roads, such as the GermanAutobahns. In contrast, there is no speed limit on roads

J. Wilks et al. / Tourism Management 20 (1999) 645}654 649

outside population centres in the Northern Territory ofAustralia. This could cause potential problems for someoverseas drivers who have only obtained experience inroads with more restrictive speed limits.

In 1996, just over half of the international arrivals toAustralia were people visiting for the "rst time (Bureau ofTourism Research, 1996). Among the unfamiliar drivingconditions they could encounter in Australia are: wan-dering stock; native and feral animals (including suchlarge animals as kangaroos, wallabies and donkeys,as well as smaller animals such as wombats, possums,rabbits and foxes) (Faulks, 1998); poor road shoulders;dust on unsealed roads; Road Trains, which can beup to 53.5 m long and 2.5 m wide and have three trailers;and #ash #ooding, especially on rural and remoteroads.

According to Hargarten (1991), imparting knowledgeof these variable in-country risks is essential if interna-tional travellers are to develop strategies to preventinjuries. A number of information sources are currentlyavailable in Australia, though none have been formallyevaluated to determine their value in injury prevention.

7. Currently available information

Commercially available guide books such as that pro-duced by Lonely Planet Publications (Finlay et al., 1996)provide useful, but very general, information about roadrules and driving conditions in Australia. State and Terri-tory transport authorities produce some excellent guideswith maps and safety tips, though they are sometimesdi$cult to obtain even after arriving in the country(Northern Territory Road Safety Council, 1995; Queens-land Tourist and Travel Corporation, 1998a). There isalso the question of how many international tourists takethe time to read and utilise printed literature.

More recently, tourism and transport authorities havestarted developing Internet sites to convey road safetyinformation. Some sites, such as that of the SingaporePolice Force (1998) provide detailed and speci"c roadsafety advice; whereas others, like the Queensland Tour-ist and Travel Corporation (1998b) include limited roadsafety messages within the context of broad tourist in-formation. While a very detailed guide for internationaland interstate drivers is currently being developed byQueensland Transport (due on-line in November 1998),the question remains as to how many international visi-tors will use this form of information technology? The1996 International Visitor Survey (Bureau of TourismResearch, 1996) found that only 1% of internationalvisitors used the Internet as an information source onAustralia. Further research needs to be undertaken tomonitor Internet activity on sites with road safety in-formation and also to determine their use by speci"cmarket segments.

Road safety videos targeting international visitors arenot generally available in Australia. In the course of thisreview, only one video from a local car rental franchise inWestern Australia was identi"ed. However, recent mar-ket research commissioned by the Northern TerritoryRoad Safety Council (Erickson et al., 1997) found strongsupport among tourism operators for a road safety in-formation video package. Similarly, in other areas ofworkplace health and safety the tourism industry hasexpressed support for videos as a means of conveyinginformation (Patterson et al., 1994), so this method ofcommunication has promising possibilities in the area ofroad safety.

While a variety of road safety campaigns targetinginternational visitors have been conducted over the years(Roads & Tra$c Authority, 1995; Queensland Trans-port, 1995), none appear to have been systematicallyevaluated. One reason for this is that international visi-tors have a limited exposure to mass media campaigns,or even policing deterrents like Random Breath Testingand speed cameras. Indeed, the police often complainthat international visitors are not deterred by "nes sincethe penalties are unenforceable when the visitor has leftAustralia (Parliamentary Travelsafe Committee, 1996).Finally, because of their short stay in Australia, interna-tional visitors' attitudes, beliefs and behaviours in re-sponse to any campaign are di$cult to assess usingstandard pre- and post-test evaluation measures. Giventhese constraints, the most promising avenue for researchappears to be a focus on the factors contributingto crashes involving international visitors to identifypotential prevention strategies.

8. Developing a national research programme

The national research agenda proposed for generaltourist health and safety by Wilks and Atherton (1994)provides a useful starting framework for addressingissues speci"cally related to road safety. First, it isnecessary to establish a base-line of empirical data onthe incidence of road crashes involving internationaltourists. Without this baseline, Hargarten (1991, p. 107)points out:

It is di$cult to assign risk to a cause of death andnon-fatal injury if the numerator is incomplete andthe denominator is virtually unknown.

The second step is to better establish the predominentfactors contributing to the crashes involving overseasvisitors, particularly those associated with driving in un-familiar surroundings. While anecdotal evidence suggeststhat driver fatigue, driving on the left-hand side of theroad (if that is not familiar), not wearing a seat belt,speed, drink driving and unfamiliar road rules may allcontribute to road crashes for international visitors, these

650 J. Wilks et al. / Tourism Management 20 (1999) 645}654

contributing factors need to be investigated empirically.Three speci"c data collection points are identi"ed for thisroad safety research: road crash data, hospital records,and insurance claims.

8.1. Road crash data

In the "rst instance, an analysis of road crash dataprovides a means of establishing the scale of the interna-tional driver safety problem. Some preliminary work hasalready been conducted in this area (FORS, 1995; Wilks& Watson, 1998). However, this work has tended to focuson those crashes where tourists are involved as drivers.More needs to be understood about the role of tourists inall types of crashes, including their involvement as pas-sengers, pedestrians, cyclists, and moped riders.

In addition, road crash data can be used to establishthe characteristics of the crashes involving internationalvisitors, which in turn can be used to inform the develop-ment of prevention strategies. In this regard, a range ofissues have been identi"ed in preceding sections whichneed closer examination to establish their relative contri-bution to tourist crashes. For example, while overseasstudies have suggested that the di$culties associatedwith driving on the opposite side of the road can contrib-ute to crashes (Page & Meyer, 1996; Petridou et al., 1997),this needs to be more closely examined in the Australiancontext.

This research may also identify ways in which thecollection of crash data relating to overseas visitors mayneed to be standardised or improved. In particular, itwould be useful for more speci"c information to becollected about the home country of international driversinvolved in crashes in Australia. This would assist inidentifying factors related to unfamiliarity. Finally, thereis an ongoing need to collect exposure data which willprovide an insight into the road use patterns of overseasvisitors. This will assist in better quantifying the relativerisk faced by this target group, compared to otherAustralian road users.

8.2. Hospital records

The second point of information collection must be thehospital system, to determine details of patient treatmentand outcome. Previous Australian studies have shownmotor vehicle crashes to be the leading injury-relatedcause of hospital admission for international tourists(Nicol et al., 1996) and a serious "nancial burden for hosthospitals (Walker et al., 1995). To date, however, nodetailed work has been undertaken to examine the medi-cal consequences of motor vehicle crashes for interna-tional tourists to Australia. Within the broader context oftourist health, analysis of hospital data is considereda key component in any national research programme(Wilks, 1995).

To address this issue, the Centre for Accident Researchand Road Safety (CARRS-Q) and Queensland Healthare currently examining all hospital inpatient admissionsfor international visitors involved in a motor vehiclecrash. For the 1996/97 "nancial year a total of 130admissions have been identi"ed. A detailed analysis ofpatient characteristics, diagnoses, length of stay in hospi-tal and estimated treatment costs has yet to be com-pleted. When available, this data will provide a uniqueview of the personal and medical costs of road crashes ona state-wide basis. Due to con"dentiality issues, thispicture will never be complete, but it will contribute toour understanding of the consequences of road crashesby focusing on the nature of the injuries sustained andthe time an international visitor will spend in hospital. Inaddition, hospital data will show the extent of the patientcare burden being placed on local hospitals, manyof which will be required to write these costs o! asa bad debt (Industry Commission, 1991; Barraclough& McBain, 1992).

8.3. Insurance claims

The third source of vital information is insuranceclaims. As noted in Table 1, many motor vehicle crashesresult in minor injury and property damage, the details ofwhich would not necessarily be captured in road crashdata or hospital reports. Information from insuranceclaims can provide a more complete picture of crashconsequences, particularly by highlighting the &hidden'costs associated with crashes which do not meet thecriteria for reporting to the police. For example, costssuch as minor vehicle repairs, the use of replacementvehicles, insurance excesses, legal fees, and the impact ofthese hidden costs on future insurance premiums. Fromdiscussions with the managers of New Zealand insurancecompanies responsible for paying claims on travel pol-icies, Ryan (1996) concluded that insurance data could bea rich source of information, not only for revealing pat-terns of tourist injuries, but also for guiding preventionstrategies. This, in turn, &&might ensure a marginally high-er pro"tability for the companies'' (Ryan, 1996, p. 593).

The di$culty in dealing with individual insurancecompanies is that data are not readily available, prim-arily for commercial reasons (Ryan, 1996). A more appro-priate alternative for road safety research, at leastinitially, is to seek data from a centralised point. Forexample, CARRS-Q is currently working with the MotorAccident Insurance Commission (MAIC) in Queenslandto identify all compulsory third party (CTP) claims in-volving an international driver. Since 1936, Queenslandhas operated a common law &fault' based CTP motorvehicle insurance scheme (MAIC, 1997). The QueenslandCTP scheme is currently underwritten by six licensedprivate insurers, all of whom contribute to a centralclaims database.

J. Wilks et al. / Tourism Management 20 (1999) 645}654 651

The exploration of CTP claims will not provide thewhole picture for international visitor crashes as it onlycovers those situations where a third party was involved.However, a unique aspect of analysing CTP claims is thattwo types of pro"le can be generated. First, an injurypro"le, which includes details of both the initial hospitaltreatment and also any longer term rehabilitation. Thiscompliments the hospital-based records by providinga more detailed "nancial analysis of injuries resultingfrom motor vehicle crashes. Secondly, CTP data canprovide an economic pro"le of all payments made on theclaim. This may include legal costs, economic loss, invest-igation costs, long-term care and home care, and generaldamages (MAIC, 1997). Rather than rely on aggregatecrash costing used by transport authorities (Andreassen,1992; Wilks & Watson, 1998), analysis of CTP claimsshould provide a more detailed understanding of the"nancial burden of road crashes involving internationalvisitors.

Road crash data, hospital records and insuranceclaims will all contribute valuable &snap-shots' of roadsafety problems and consequences experienced by inter-national visitors to Australia. While recognising theadditional value of other methodologies, such as "eldobservations, interviews with international drivers, andcontrolled trials to further understand internationaldriver behaviour, analysis of the three initial data sourceswill comprehensively set the foundation for a nationalmanagement programme.

9. Translation of research into practice

Having identi"ed and assessed the relative contribu-tion of factors involved in driving problems for interna-tional visitors, the research must be translated intopractical countermeasures. Among the suggestions putforward by Page and Meyer (1996, p. 688) to alerttourists in New Zealand to the common precautions theymight take are:

. . . compulsory screening of video-based safetymessages at car rental agencies prior to rental;pamphlets and lea#ets distributed to tourists toreinforce video-based messages without beingalarmist; cassette tapes provided with cars to in-form drivers of the relevant road laws; prominentsignage near airports, tourist resorts, and rental caragencies reminding drivers that New Zealanddrives on the left-hand side of the road; and signson car dashboard panels to remind drivers of theroad rules.

A comprehensive management plan will need to ad-dress two broad prevention strategies: direct education oftourists, and education of tourism operators. Both ofthese strategies are evident in the suggestions of Page and

Meyer (1996) above. Interestingly, however, these re-searchers concluded that tourist operators would be un-likely to take voluntary action unless they could beconvinced that a real and pressing problem existed. Thisargument can only be made with de"nitive primary dataon the topic.

The current research programme at CARRS-Q isdesigned to provide this hard data from the three identi-"ed key sources of road crash statistics, hospitalrecords and insurance claims. However, to ensure thatthe research agenda is made possible, the issues to beresearched need to be recognised and &owned' by allrelevant parties (Wilks & Atherton, 1994). In thiscase ownership is the joint responsibility of the tourismindustry, transport authorities, and related governmentagencies.

10. A collaborative approach

As noted above, none of the publicly available in-formation sources on international visitors and roadsafety in Australia appear to have ever been evaluated.Neither have government campaigns been tested for thetheir e!ectiveness. At the same time, some of the existingmaterial is very valuable. For example, the NorthernTerritory's publication &The Territory by Road' (North-ern Territory Road Safety Council, 1995) is an excellentmodel for a motoring guide, with maps and informationpresented in seven languages.

To ensure that all publicly distributed road safetymaterial targeting international visitors is able to beassessed, an Australia-wide collection and audit isneeded. Rather than reinvent the wheel, existing materialshould be used, subject to any copyright restrictions, tobuild the best possible road safety messages.

Another approach to synthesising information andresources is to involve relevant groups from commerceand industry. Lawyers, insurance companies, car rentaloperators, travel agents and the media all have a stake inpromoting international visitor road safety. Some ofthese groups also have in-house marketing research, riskassessments, policies and procedures that are not pub-licly available (Ryan, 1996), but are very valuablefor guiding education and prevention strategies. One-dayindustry seminars appear to be an appropriate way tofacilitate some sharing between government agencies,researchers and private industry interests (Patterson etal., 1994). Two such seminars are being planned byCARRS-Q during 1999.

While the research programme outlined above willprovide a great deal of new information, and ideallysome quality educational materials to assist internationalvisitors driving in Australia, the real test for the manage-ment component of the programme will be to convincetourism operators to adopt a proactive approach

652 J. Wilks et al. / Tourism Management 20 (1999) 645}654

toward the problem. Traditionally, tourism operatorsappear most concerned about their legal liability shoulda client be injured and with the "nancial costs/bene"ts ofadopting additional client responsibilities in the area ofhealth and safety (Patterson et al., 1994). As most tourismoperators in Australia are small businesses with less than20 sta! (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 1993; NetworkAustralia, 1992), these commercial concerns are under-standable. A "nal component of the proposed manage-ment programme would therefore be an examination andadoption of &best practice'methods for selling road safetyto the tourism industry.

11. Conclusions

While motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause ofinjury death for international tourists, these fatalities areonly the tip of the iceberg. Less visible but equally impor-tant are the tourist injuries, property damage and otherhidden costs which should be of particular concern totourism and transport authorities. From the availableliterature it appears that many road safety problems arerelated to driving in unfamiliar surroundings. Some dif-ferences in driving conditions between Australia andother countries are highlighted in this report. However,further research is needed to clarify the relative contribu-tion of driver, vehicle and environment factors in Austra-lian road crashes involving international visitors.

Three main sources of information have been identi-"ed to provide direction for a national research pro-gramme: road crash data, hospital reports and insuranceclaims. From this research a number of practical re-sponses, such as industry videoes, can be developed.However, for the full programme to be successful thetourism industry needs to accept that a problem of roadsafety for international visitors does exist. In the lead upto the Olympics more tourists will be moving about onAustralian roads, and consequently more crashes involv-ing international drivers are likely unless a coordinatedapproach to prevention is adopted. While the Sydney2000 Olympics is an ideal motivator for Australia to takea proactive stand on this issue, the bene"ts of developinga best practice model for road safety in Australia can alsobe shared with other countries. As Page and Meyer (1996,p. 689) note:

No accident, however caused, is good publicity fora tourism industry becoming reliant upon interna-tional visitor spending.

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by funds from the MotorAccident Insurance Commission (Queensland). The

authors would like to thank Queensland Transport andthe Federal O$ce of Road Safety for data used in thepaper. Special thanks also to Anna Johnson for assist-ance with gathering the international literature.

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