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Research

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MAC funds research related to key road safety priorities and issues of significance to SA’s CTP Scheme. MAC primarily commissions specific reports, which are funded as part of its sponsorship program.

Road safety research

Research into road crashes is undertaken to reveal the extent and type of problems on our roads, to prioritise interventions and to evaluate the impact of interventions and other actions.

The Centre for Automotive Safety Research (CASR) is an internationally renowned road safety research centre that is part of the University of Adelaide. CASR conducts projects for MAC to assist MAC's role in improving road safety.

Researchers at the Centre have or are currently completing a number of projects for MAC:

  • Pedestrian crashes
  • Tailgating
  • The benefits to SA of the introduction of an Australian Design Rule on pedestrian protection
  • The prevalence of bull bars
  • A review of coffee stops as a road safety measure
  • The benefits of incorporating CTP data into WebTARS, the statistical database used by DTEI (Department for Transport, Energy and Infrastructure)

For published road safety research reports, click here

Post-crash rehabilitation and medical research

TRACsa Research

MAC’s sponsorship model utilises a contracting or commissioning methodology for post crash rehabilitation and research. Funds are committed through the TRACsa Research Program. This Program identifies a number of projects to start in the 2007/08 year, including the newly established National Institute of Clinical Study (NICS) Implementation Fellowship.

Whiplash Associated Disorders

Whiplash Associated Disorders (WAD) are the most common injury for which compensation is sought under the CTP scheme in South Australia. There is a large amount of variation in the symptoms that people with WAD have and in the time it takes to recover. TRACsa has established an independent Best Practice Taskforce (BPT) to oversee the development of WAD best practice assessment and treatment guidelines, as well as resources to help health providers, patients, insurance claims managers and solicitors understand more about soft tissue injuries.

NICS

MAC and TRACsa will co-sponsor a two-year half-time National Institute of Clinical Study (NICS) Implementation Fellow for 2008.

The successful candidate will have the opportunity to become a clinical leader in soft tissue injury and compensation health best practice development, implementation and evaluation.

Project proposals are encouraged that make use of the recently gathered international evidence on best practice assessment and treatment of acute and chronic Whiplash Associated Disorders (WAD) by a Consortium contracted by TRACsa.

For more information on the program, visit:

http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/nics

More details about the TRACsa Research Program will be available soon!

Medical Research

MAC is proud to support traumatic brain injury (TBI) research conducted by the University of Adelaide research team, which is led by Professor Robert Vink. Research findings are expected in 2008. The research seeks to contribute to drug development and improve rehabilitation outcomes for TBI victims.

In addition to brain injury research, MAC has supported spinal cord injury research.

For details about these sponsorships, please visit sponsored groups.

The Social Health Atlas

The Social Health Atlas of Compensable Injury in South Australia (the Atlas) presents data from the compensation sector as maps together with demographic, economic, social and health status and service use data in South Australia. The data is primarily from the Compulsory Third Party (CTP) and workers compensation schemes.

For more information, visit the Public Health Information Development Unit (PHIDU) or TRACsa. To view the Atlas, please click here.