The Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety – Queensland (CARRS-Q) is a research centre established in 1996. It is based at the Kelvin Grove campus of

Queensland University of Technology The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is a public university, public research university located in the city of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. It has two major campuses, a modern city campus in Gardens Point, Brisbane, Gardens Point ...

(QUT) in Queensland, Australia and is part of the Faculty of Health. The Centre was established as a joint venture of the Motor Accident Insurance Commission (MAIC)Queensland Government - Motor Accident Insurance Commissio
"CONROD and CARRS-Q"
2009. Retrieved on 11 November 2009 and 12 March 2012. and QUT, and also receives funding from competitive research grants for specific projects. CARRS-Q's stated vision is "for a safer world in which injury-related harm is uncommon and unacceptable", which it works toward by conducting research, training road safety professionals, and giving awards to other organisations or individuals for successful road safety initiatives.

Areas of research

CARRS-Q's areas of research are currently divided into Intelligent Transport Systems, Occupational Road Safety, Regulation and Enforcement, Road Safety Infrastructure, School and Community Injury Prevention, and Vulnerable Road Users. The Centre is part of the School of Psychology and Counselling in QUT's Faculty of Health, and some of its researchers have psychology qualifications and focus on the behavioural aspects of

road safety Road traffic safety refers to the methods and measures, such as traffic calming, to prevent road users from being killed or seriously injured. Typical road users include pedestrians, cyclists, Driving, motorists, passengers of vehicles, and p ...

Teaching activities

CARRS-Q has Masters and PhD students, some of whom are concurrently employed as Research Officers.

Research facilities

CARRS-Q has a range of equipment used in road safety research on driver behaviour, including an instrumented

four-wheel drive A four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, is a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case pr ...

(4WD) vehicle and a

driving simulator Driving simulators are used for entertainment as well as in training of driver's education courses taught in educational institutions and private businesses. They are also used for research purposes in the area of human factors and medical rese ...

. The instrumented 4WD is equipped with sensors such as a multimedia

datalogger A data logger (also datalogger or data recorder) is an electronic device that records data over time or about location either with a built-in instrument or sensor or via external instruments and sensors. Increasingly, but not entirely, they a ...

, physiological devices (

EEG Electroencephalography (EEG) is a method to record an electrogram of the spontaneous electrical activity of the brain. The bio signals detected by EEG have been shown to represent the postsynaptic potentials of pyramidal neurons in the neoc ...

ECG Electrocardiography is the process of producing an electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG), a recording of the heart's electrical activity through repeated cardiac cycles. It is an electrogram of the heart which is a graph of voltage versus time of ...

and EMG),

laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word ''laser'' originated as an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radi ...

scanner,

radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

s and eye trackers. The CARRS-Q Driving Simulator was officially launched on 19 March 2010. It is based on a

Holden Commodore The Holden Commodore is a series of automobiles that were sold by now-defunct Australian manufacturer Holden from 1978 until 2020. They were manufactured from 1978 to 2017 in Australia and from 1979 to 1990 in New Zealand, with production of ...

sedan that was donated for the purpose, and sits on a

six degrees of freedom Six degrees of freedom (6DOF), or sometimes six degrees of movement, refers to the six mechanical degrees of freedom of movement of a rigid body in three-dimensional space. Specifically, the body is free to change position as forward/backw ...

motion platform A motion simulator or motion platform is a mechanism that creates the feelings of being in a real motion environment. In a simulator, the movement is synchronised with a visual display of the outside world (OTW) scene. Motion platforms can provid ...

Queensland Road Safety Awards

The Queensland Road Safety Awards (QRSA) were first held in the year 2000 and are a joint initiative of CARRS-Q and the

RACQ The Royal Automobile Club of Queensland Limited (RACQ) is a mutual organisation and Queensland's largest club (by membership), providing services including roadside assistance, insurance, banking and travel to its approximately 1.7 million m ...

to "recognise and honour the outstanding efforts of individuals and groups who have started projects or programmes to improve safety on Queensland roads".

Collaboration

CARRS-Q has links with similar organisations worldwide, such as the French National Institute for Transportation Safety Research ( INRETS) and

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI), through exchange of visiting researchers and collaboration on research papers.

References

External links

CARRS-Q website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carrs-Q Road safety organizations Research institutes in Australia Queensland University of Technology