Social & Community Impact Report 2021/2022

Contents

Highlights

A message from our President & Group CEO

Our approach to social and community impact

Our organisation 16

117 years of social and community impact

Our impact areas 22

Safe activities and initiatives

Sustainable activities and initiatives 40

Connected activities and initiatives 47

Being involved 62

Our people 70 Our future

Our performance

Highlights

RAC is a purpose-led member organisation. We’ve been putting our members and community interests first and acting, influencing and advocating positive change for 117 years. As we move forward, together, we’ll continue to be the driving force for a better WA.

This year, we navigated the challenges of COVID-19 and the associated restrictions to continue to deliver on our Purpose, Vision and Mission. Here are some recent highlights of what we’ve achieved through working with our members, local communities, governments and like-minded groups.

We’ve celebrated 12 months of our new Purpose, Vision & Mission

We provided another $1 mil to partner with metropolitan and regional governments on 12 community projects through Reconnect WA

We secured 1,000+ media stories in support of our Vision for a safer, sustainable and connected WA

971

participants attended caravan safety sessions

Our Connecting Communities Fund provided more than

to metropolitan and regional Town Teams

We celebrated 100 Town Teams as the Principal Partner of Town Team Movement

Over 3,500

passengers experienced the driverless RAC Intellibus®

We reached 35,670 students through our road safety education programs and events this year

We’ve collaborated with over 8,000

members on new products, services and initiatives through RAC CoLAB

Since 2019,

3,000

primary school students have experienced driverless vehicle technology across 100 RAC Imagine Program™ excursions

We’ve supported community-led speed reduction campaigns, and partnered with local governments to start planning safer speed trials

We supported

We started developing the RAC Air Health Monitor for Perth, the first of its kind and most comprehensive air quality sensor network and system in Australia

missions of the RAC Rescue Helicopters across our 19 year sponsorship

We worked with our partners to make the RAC Electric Highway® even greener, transitioning another five stations to green energy.

Rob Slocombe (left) and Jacqueline Ronchi (right)

A message from our President & Group CEO

We are pleased to provide our second Social and Community Impact Report highlighting our journey and progress toward achieving RAC’s Vision 2030 for a safer, more sustainable, and better-connected future for all Western Australians.

RAC’s Vision 2030 includes our Social Impact Metric which guides our initiatives and measures how we are progressing against the ambitious targets our organisation has set.

Over the past 12 months COVID-19 restrictions and uncertain economic conditions have had an impact in the community. During this time, RAC has remained purpose-led and always strived to be at its best. This includes maintaining and expanding our work and important partnerships with the community, such as:

» Commenced building the most comprehensive air quality sensor network in Australia, with Perth joining cities such as London, Paris and Los Angeles in the use of the world-leading technology.

» More than $800 million in Federal and State Government funding allocated to the Regional Road Safety Program.

» The RAC Rescue Helicopters flying 9,000 missions since 2003*.

» Road safety lessons provided to more than 35,000 students across Perth and regional WA and 8,000 students attending RAC bstreetsmart.

» Free car safety checks and caravan training sessions through RAC Safe Travels.

» Expanding the RAC Electric Highway® with more chargers in more locations and calling for better policies and incentives to increase the availability of electric vehicles.

» Commencing RAC’s journey towards net zero by developing a decarbonisation strategy for our own operations.

» Reconnect WA providing a further $1 million to local governments to deliver 12 projects. A further $110,000 went to local Town Teams, through the RAC Connecting Communities Fund. These programs have inspired and transformed neighbourhoods.

» Focusing on cost-of-living pressures including fuel pricing, motoring and public transport costs.

In the pages ahead, you can find out more about our partnerships and work in the community. We are proud of our achievements to date and have a clear focus on the future and the work still to be done.

To the team at RAC, our partners across Western Australia, and our more than 1.2 million members –thank you for your trust and support.

Together we can make a real difference. Not just on paper, but on the roads we drive and the trains we catch, on the paths we walk and ride, in the quality of the air we breathe, and in the places we connect with one another.

Together we can create a better WA.

Jacqueline Ronchi President (2019-2022)

Rob Slocombe Group Chief Executive Officer

Our approach to social and community impact

RAC is a purpose-led member organisation. With no shareholders, we reinvest our profits for the benefit of our members and to create a better WA.

Our approach to social and community impact seeks to align with and contribute towards our organisation-wide Purpose, Vision and Mission. Tracking and reporting our progress on this journey is important to us. It will help us make better decisions and maximise our impact.

This, our second annual Social and Community Impact Report, sets out how we’re progressing towards our 2030 Vision. It also showcases some of the impactful activities and initiatives we’ve delivered (with a focus on 2021/22 – referred to as FY22, or this year) to drive positive outcomes.

Our Purpose, Vision and Mission

We exist to be the driving force for a better WA – this is our Purpose, our ‘why’. This is enacted through our Vision. Our Vision is for a safer, sustainable and connected future for Western Australians.

This is what we stand for, and what we will act on.

We’re committed to continuing to improve our services and experiences for our members and to champion change that will lead to a safer, sustainable and connected future for Western Australians.

The principles of social purpose and member value are at the heart of RAC. Our Purpose, Vision and Mission not only guides our social and community impact focus, it also sits at the core of the overall strategy for the organisation.

Purpose

The driving force for a better WA.

Vision

2030: A safer, sustainable and connected future for Western Australians.

Mission

Delivering great member services and experiences, while inspiring positive community change, that makes life better in WA.

A family exploring different modes of active transport

Our Vision 2030: what we want to achieve

A safe, sustainable and connected future. And these are our desired end states, or what we aspire for the future to look and feel like…

Safe

Safer mobility is vital to the wellbeing of Western Australians. Think safer roads, speeds, vehicles and people to save lives and reduce serious injuries.

» Western Australians feel safe utilising all modes of transport.

» The rate of road deaths and serious injuries in Western Australia is approaching zero.

» Western Australia has safe transport infrastructure.

» New vehicle technology and safety assurance frameworks are protecting occupants and other road users from crashes.

» Road users are taking responsibility for themselves and other road users.

» Road safety is a social, health and economic priority for Western Australia.

» Appropriate speed limits have been implemented and are increasing human survival rates in the event of a crash.

An RAC internal staff event

Sustainable

» Harmful emissions (CO2, NOx, particulates) from passenger vehicles are reduced in line with international benchmarks.

» Proactive initiatives have been implemented to improve air quality.

» Low emission vehicles are widely available, affordable and a popular choice.

» Infrastructure supporting alternative vehicle technology is broadly accessible.

» Western Australians better understand and are able to reduce the life-cycle impacts of owning or operating vehicles.

» A range of fair and effective funding options have delivered a high-quality transport system.

Connected

Connected mobility supports vibrant and liveable communities. Think wellplanned communities and transport that connect people and places.

» Good urban design and well-planned communities are enabling better access to transport options and enhanced social connectedness.

» People are seamlessly connected by a flexible range of private, public and shared transport options (e.g. public transport, cycling, walking, car, motorcycling, personal transporters, aviation), infrastructure, services and technology.

» Congestion has been managed to protect the livability and productivity of the State.

» The benefits of digitisation are realised and enhance mobility while protecting personal privacy and data.

» Transport is affordable and accessible.

Sustainable mobility meets the social, environmental and economic needs of current and future generations. Think low emission vehicles and initiatives for cleaner, healthier air.

Let’s imagine…

… A Western Australia where all communities are thriving, vibrant and connected.

Our towns and cities are flourishing because their design puts humans first. New ways of moving around are bringing people together, making us happier and healthier. Places made for cars, have turned into places for people.

Our streets are safer, and we spend less time commuting.

Our world-class public transport system is affordable and hyper-connected — helping us move around in a breeze.

An extensive network of cycling and walking paths bring people together more often, meaning more social neighbourhoods.

With less reliance on our cars, improved roads and safer vehicles and road users, we’ve dramatically reduced the number of Western Australians killed or seriously injured on our roads.

Fewer cars overall, and a higher percentage of low and zero emissions vehicles, means cleaner air, greener towns and cities, and a healthier WA.

How we measure our impact

Then: The Mobility Agenda

In 2010, the RAC Council (comprising elected members) implemented a ground-breaking ‘Mobility Agenda’ (and ‘Mobility Index’ which comprised indicators, measures and targets) to guide RAC’s advocacy to 2020.

This shifted the focus from motoring to mobility. It sought to ensure our members and the community could move around their State safely, easily and in a more sustainable way.

The Mobility Agenda was a key enabler for change, for both us and our members, with many impactful advocacy actions and innovative initiatives being delivered which ensured its successful implementation.

And now: The Social Impact Framework

A new strategy was developed and endorsed by the RAC Council in 2019 to guide our social and community impact activities to 2030. This is supported by a Social Impact Framework which keeps us focused on the issues that matter most to achieving our Vision.

Launched in 2020, our Social Impact Framework guides and helps us measure and report on our progress to 2030:

» Visualising our future – our Vision 2030 end states provide the strategic direction around where we want to get to for each of our three impact areas of Safe, Sustainable and Connected.

» Monitoring our influence – the Social Impact Metric helps us understand, react, and respond to what’s happening in the changing external environment and track progress around the things we’re trying to impact

This includes a series of indicators, measures and targets, reflecting the following factors in WA:

» Road fatality and serious injury rates per 100,000 persons;

» CO2 and NOx emissions per kilometre travelled;

» Vehicle kilometres travelled per person;

» Extent to which people feel connected to and within their community; and

» Costs associated with private motoring and public transport.

» Measuring our actions – we have an internal tool to help us better capture and align the social and community impact activities and initiatives we’re delivering across the organisation with our Vision, and report on the impacts. This helps us to realise the full potential of the organisation to drive positive outcomes towards achievement of our Purpose and Vision.

Together, these will help us make good decisions as we progress, ensuring a smooth and successful journey to Vision 2030.

Measuring our Social and Community Impact:

Towards zero KSI

Pillars

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

We support the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which were adopted by all UN Member States including Australia as a founding member. The SDGs are the blueprint to tackle the biggest challenges the world is facing, to achieve a better and more sustainable future for everyone on Earth. They are a global call to act to protect our planet together and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity.

We seek to embed these across our operational and social and community impact activities to ensure the sustainability of our organisation, members, and the WA community. Our Purpose, Vision and Mission, which guide our activities, currently align with the intent of 11 of the 17 SDGs.

Over the period to 2030, we’ll strive to continue to make a positive difference and deliver enhanced outcomes that align to the SDGs.

Safe

Sustainable

Connected

Operational

A look at how much RAC has changed over the years

Our organisation

Social and community impact has always been an important part of who we are and what we do. We’ve advocated change and acted to develop and deliver many innovative and meaningful initiatives to drive positive outcomes for our members and the WA community.

Our Club’s 117-year history is deeply connected to the growth and development of WA as a State and community. In 1905, cars were a new and unusual sight on the streets. There was little in the way of garages or petrol pumps, and very few people knew how to change a tyre. Our early members had a strong sense of civic duty and wanted to change this.

So, in 1905 a group of motoring enthusiasts started the ‘Automobile Club of Western Australia’ so they could work together to keep members safe and advance motoring in WA. Early Club members installed the State’s first signposts and produced its first roadmaps, and by the 1920s were campaigning to preserve the giant Karri trees in the South West. They continually lobbied for better roads and greater protection for road users.

All of this work benefited the entire community.

Throughout the years, we’ve increased the range of services we provide to members, and these now include Roadside Assistance, Insurance, Travel, Parks and Resorts, Finance, Auto Services, Batteries, Tyres, Home Services and Security.

Today, we continue to be the voice of our members – which is over 1.2 million Western Australians. We’ve evolved into one of the most trusted and recognised organisations in WA and a leading mobility advocate.

In reinvesting our profits, our member benefits program provides members access to great benefits, like discounts with over 100 retail partners and on RAC products and services. This year members saved $69 million in direct benefits including everyday savings on fuel, gas for their homes, travel, pharmacy, entertainment, shopping and more.

To support members experiencing financial hardship, 213 members were provided with financial assistance across 347 products to a value of $16,759.

Did you know?

What our ‘Your Member Update’ email looked like 90 years ago - ‘The Road Patrol’ was distributed to all members from 1930.

‘The Driving Force for a Better WA’ History Book

Matchless motorcycles carried equipment and ran repairs until the late 1940s.

This year we celebrated RAC’s first official history book, ‘The Driving Force for a Better WA’. For the first time, the rich heritage of our Club and organisation has been detailed, tracing RAC’s extensive history from our inception in 1905 to our 115th anniversary in 2020.

The stories contained within the book highlight how our organisation has changed but also how we’ve remained the same. Right from the start, it was our social purpose that drove us, and our focus has always been the needs of our members and the WA community.

We act and influence, for a better WA

In the 1930s, pamphlets were produced by RAC to simplify the road rules and give tips on how to drive safely in different road conditions.

We undertake a range of social and community impact activities and initiatives to drive positive outcomes, which will move us towards our Vision 2030 End States and achievement of our Social Impact Metric.

These activities include:

» Undertaking research, developing evidencebased policy, and making submissions to government to influence priorities and investments;

» Delivering collaborative demonstration trials and initiatives to highlight key issues, showcase what can be achieved and help plan for the future;

» Running campaigns, engagement and education activities to enhance understanding, inspire and empower action;

» Supporting major and community-focused sponsorship programs;

» Engaging with all sides and levels of government, and the media, to draw attention to the key issues and hold government accountable; and

» Ensuring RAC people are involved in delivering social and community impact through volunteering and other initiatives.

The Driving Force for a Better WA history book

117 years of social and community impact

An

Here are some of our milestone moments:

1905 Club formation 1909 erected directional signs across WA

1911 developed the first road map

Safe Sustainable Connected

1920 campaigned to preserve the giant karri trees of southern WA

1946 initiated the National Safety Council of WA to promote road safety

1993

Australian Automobile Associations created ANCAP to test and rate vehicle safety

2002 began offsetting our vehicle fleet emissions

2003 began sponsoring the Perth-based RAC Rescue Helicopter

2012 started bstreetsmart 2012 made our safer cars commitment 2012 introduced the Less Emissions Mission rewarding members with lower emission vehicles

2013

focused on inattention with world first Attention Powered Car and rated the safety of 4,671 km of WA’s National Highway Network

2013 commenced annual reviews of motorist taxation to get a fairer share for WA

2016 started Australia’s first and longest running automated vehicle trial with the RAC Intellibus

2016 started calling for CO2 emissions standards for new light vehicles

2018 launched the Impact Protection Vehicles to protect our people and members at breakdowns

2018 highlighted required lighting upgrades on Perth’s popular cycling paths

2019 commenced advocacy for the Regional Road Safety Program

1940 pushed to ensure highway lines were mandatory and that it was illegal to not stop at a stop sign

1988 lobbied for roadside Random Breath Testing in line with other states

1965 to 1973 campaigned for seatbelts and child restraints to be mandated

2008 created the Risky Roads survey to give the community a voice

2014 undertook a landmark trial to help make our traffic signals ‘smarter’

2015 took electric bikes for a spin with the RAC eBike trials

2015

built Australia’s first Electric Highway

2015 launched our Elephant in the Wheatbelt campaign, Little Legends Club and Road Ready program to educate road safety issues

2020 began our Safe Travels events to better prepare travelers on WA roads.

2020 launched Reconnect WA to revitalise spaces for community activity.

In 2020 we achieved our vision of becoming WA’s most valued organisation, and launched our new Purpose, Vision and Mission for 2030.

This year, our Mobile Technicians and Auto Service Centres collectively saved the following from going to landfill:

at a 94% recycling rate

achieving a 100% recycling rate

of scrap metal

Understanding RAC’s Carbon Footprint

In line with our Purpose and Vision 2030, and our responsibility to help protect the natural environment and mitigate the impacts of climate change, we intend to decarbonise our operations.

of members feel it is important to them that RAC takes steps to reduce our carbon emissions RAC member panel research 2021

This year, we embarked on a carbon footprint project and will develop a decarbonisation strategy in the second half of 2022. This project seeks to:

» Enable us to accurately measure and understand our carbon emissions;

» Enable us to set ambitious targets and take associated actions regarding the carbon emission impacts of our operations;

» Shape carbon offset and reduction plans; and

» Engage our people in achieving our ambition.

Did you know?

We have been offsetting carbon emissions from our vehicle fleet for 20 years.

Between 2007 (when our records formally started) and 2012, we worked with Alterra (formerly Carbon Conscious) to offset through reforestation and tree planting in the South West agricultural regions of WA.

Since 2013, we’ve worked with Carbon Neutral Charitable Fund (CNCF) to offset through the Yarra Yarra Biodiversity Corridor project and other Western Australian based biodiversity projects.

of CO2 were offset this year alone

of CO2 were offset since 2007

One of our mobile Tyres vans on a home call-out

Spotlight on our West Perth building

While we advocate for more environmentally sustainable travel options in WA, as an important step in reducing our organisational carbon footprint we’ve already been working to improve the environmental standards at our head office in West Perth.

Our new Dynamic West Perth building includes several eco-friendly features:

» A 100kW solar system comprised of 384 panels on our roof, providing solar power to our building;

» New energy efficient light fixtures;

» Removal of paper towels from our bathrooms, saving around three tons of waste per year;

» Plumbing that helps us to reduce water consumption;

» More native water-wise plants to in our gardens to reduce water consumption;

» End of trip facilities that encourage our people to travel by active transport; and

» Free e-bike loans for day or longer-term use.

And when it comes to the furniture items we no longer needed in our building, we’ve partnered with local WA organisation GreenChair who collect unwanted furniture and direct it to charities, non-profits and community groups who need it.

Through this partnership we’ve:

» Donated over 2,800 pieces of furniture, 91% of which would have gone to landfill. In a standard office re-fit, the average furniture salvaging is 60-70%;

» Saved almost 54,337 kilograms of material from going to WA landfill;

» Achieved CO2 emissions savings of almost 200 tons; and

» Supported 14 not-for-profits and charities by donating office equipment.

We also have Eco Revolution, a group of RAC people who are passionate about engaging and educating our people to understand their environmental impact and work together to encourage behaviour changes for positive effect on our environment.

RAC building in West Perth

Our impact areas

Safe

Far too many people are being killed and seriously injured on our roads. WA was once a leader but progress over the past decade has been far too slow. We now find ourselves amongst the worst in the country. As a result, individuals, families, and communities continue to be devastated by the often life-long impacts of road trauma.

Our challenge

» Preventable road trauma is one of the most common reasons for injury-related hospital admissions in WA1;

» Over the five years to the end of 2021, 804 people were killed on WA roads and another 8,415 people were seriously injured2;

» In 2021 alone, 166 people lost their lives on our roads and almost two thirds of these (105 deaths) occurred on regional roads, despite only 21% of the population living in our regions3;

» Over two thirds of all fatal and serious injury crashes in our regions are run-off-road or head on crashes – deaths and serious injuries that could easily be avoided through low- cost safety treatments;

» In Perth, on average over half of the crashes where someone dies or is seriously injured happen at intersections;

» Pedestrians, cyclists, eRideable users and motorcyclists are our most vulnerable road users, as they have less to protect them in the event of a crash than vehicle occupants do. These road users account for around one third of fatal and serious injuries4; and

» The personal and social impacts of road trauma are immense and far reaching. The economic cost of road trauma in WA is estimated to be $2.4 billion per annum5

We need a real change, and we need it now. No one should have to suffer the devastating impact of road trauma. We do not want to look back in five or ten-years’ time and think about all the lives that could have been saved if only more had been done.

Did you know?

Side-impact and rear-end crashes are the most common crash types at intersections6, with side-impact crashes having the most severe outcomes as crashes at these angles (particularly at 90°) provide the least opportunity for impact forces to be dispersed7. Roundabouts are considered one of the safest intersection types for vehicles because they require approaching vehicles to slow down, they reduce the number of potential collision points (at a four-way intersection from as many as 24 down to just four) and they almost eliminate head-on and right-angle crashes. In urban environments, there is not always space to install a full-sized roundabout, but mini-roundabouts can be effective at reducing crash likelihood and severity and installed at a fraction of the cost.

that

on

Pedestrians safely crossing the road

Sustainable

During fuel combustion, petrol and diesel fuelled vehicles emit a range of airborne pollutants and greenhouse gases – like oxides of nitrogen (NOx), carbon dioxide (CO2) particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10), hydrocarbons (including methane, benzene, toluene, xylene, and benzo[a]pyrene), carbon monoxide (CO), oxides of sulfur (SOx), and ozone (O3) – which are harmful to our health and the environment.

Air quality and our health

Did you know, almost three times as many people die due to air pollution exposure in Australia than from road crashes? In 2018, there were 3,236 deaths associated with air pollution8. This is a 26% increase from 2015.

When in the atmosphere and the air we breathe, NOx reacts with hydrocarbons like methane and benzene to create photochemical smog such as ozone and tiny particulate matter (PM2.5). Likewise, when sulfur combines with other compounds it can create smog and contribute to acid rain.

The health problems these pollutants can lead to include irritation and inflammation of the respiratory system, exacerbation of asthma and reduced immunity to respiratory infections such as colds and the flu, as well as a range of less direct but no less deadly outcomes.

Sulfur for example irritates the airways, and can cause coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath and tightness in the chest, as well as burning of the eyes and skin.

Air pollution is known to contribute to cardiovascular disease, stroke, and cancer, trigger respiratory illness, lead to low birthweight, and inhibit childhood development.

Our challenge

» Per person, Australia’s CO2 emissions are three and a half times the global average and are the eighth highest in the world for road transport9;

» 17% of WA’s total Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions are from transport sources10;

» From 1990 to 2020 the WA average per person emissions from road transport increased by almost 11%, while the national average declined by almost 1%10;

» Passenger vehicles in Australia produce a much higher amount of CO2 emissions per kilometre driven than in Europe – 23% higher on average in fact11. Comparing Australia and Norway – Australian passenger vehicles produce more than two and a half times Norway’s passenger vehicles;

» Australia and Russia are the only OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) nations without a mandatory CO2 emissions standard for new light vehicles;

» Australia’s fuel quality ranking dropped from 85th in the world in 2021 to 89th in 2022 with our allowable sulfur content in unleaded petrol (150ppm) being 15 times the international standard of 10ppm12

» Australia is the worst country in the OECD – by far - for NOx emissions, with emissions per capita an incredible four times that of the US and 7.5 times the European average13;

» Nationally, it’s been estimated motor vehicles could contribute as much as 60 to 70% of total NOx emissions14;

» Diesel vehicles emit a much higher level of NOx emissions and Australia’s diesel fleet continues to grow. In 2005, only one in ten vehicles on Australian roads was powered by diesel. Now, it’s one in four15;

» Uptake of low and zero emission vehicles like electric vehicles (EV) is slow in Western Australia, with EV sales representing 2.5% of new light vehicle sales16

» Rather than pursuing holistic reform to road user charging, the current State Government plans to introduce an EV tax from 2027 and this could disincentivise uptake;

» Other countries and vehicle manufacturers are already making moves to phase out traditional vehicles with internal combustion engines; and

» Over three quarters of Western Australians believe government needs to do more to address vehicle emissions but only one in four have confidence in Government to do it.

How green are EVs?

Battery electric and hybrid electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles have the potential to play an important role in reducing greenhouse gases and other harmful emissions from car travel in WA. They’re powered purely by electricity or a combination of electricity and liquid fuel, reducing tailpipe emissions and the impact of cars on our health and the environment.

Research shows battery EVs outperform diesel and petrol passenger vehicles, across all electricity generation make-ups. When charged by the average European electricity profile, they ‘repay their “carbon debt”’ after a year and can save over 30 tonnes of CO2 across their lifetime when compared to an equivalent non-electric vehicle.

Even on heavily carbon intensive grids such as in Poland, they produce 37% less CO2 emissions17

In WA, Western Power’s South West Interconnected System (SWIS) provides power to the most populated areas – around 1.1 million homes and businesses between Kalbarri, Kalgoorlie and Albany. The SWIS has traditionally relied on fossil fuels as the main energy source but in recent years, wind, solar and other renewable energy sources have begun to challenge the dominance of coal and gas.

The State Government recently announced that Synergy will transition out of coal-fired power generation by 2030. An estimated $3.8 billion will be invested in new green power infrastructure in the SWIS including wind generation and storage, to ensure emissions reduction, continued stability and affordability.

Reducing reliance on non-renewables electricity generation is important to further reduce lifecycle emissions for EVs in Australia.

How our fuel currently compares (allowable sulfur content, parts per million):

Petrol Australia: up to 150 USA, Canada, South Korea, China, EU, Japan

Diesel

combination of wind and solar

the South West

Australia USA JapanEU

Canada China

South Korea

How WA compares with other Australian jurisdictions when it comes to EV policy20:

Western Australia

EV subsidy/rebate

Electrify public transport fleet

Reduced rego fees Government fleet targets

Reduced vehicle duty EV sales targets

Investment in chargers

COP 26 ban new fossil fuel vehicles by 2040

EV tax EV strategy

Emissions targets and net zero pledge

» 80% reduction in government emissions by 2030

» Net zero by 2050

New South Wales

EV subsidy/rebate

Electrify public transport fleet

Reduced rego fees Government fleet targets

Reduced vehicle duty EV sales tragets

Investment in chargers

COP 26 ban new fossil fuel vehicles by 2040

EV tax EV strategy

Emissions targets and net zero pledge

» 50% reduction in state-wide emissions by 2030

» Net zero by 2050

Australian Capital Territory

EV subsidy/rebate

Electrify public transport fleet

Reduced rego fees Government fleet targets

Reduced vehicle duty EV sales tragets

Investment in chargers

COP 26 ban new fossil fuel vehicles by 2040

EV tax EV strategy

Emissions targets and net zero pledge

» 50-60% reduction in state-wide emissions by 2025 and net zero by 2045

» Government operations to be net zero emissions by 2040

Victoria

EV subsidy/rebate

Electrify public transport fleet

Reduced rego fees Government fleet targets

Reduced vehicle duty EV sales targets

Investment in chargers

COP 26 ban new fossil fuel vehicles by 2040

EV tax EV strategy

Emissions targets and net zero pledge

» 45-50% reduction in state-wide emissions by 2030 and net zero by 2050

» Government operations to be powered by 100% renewable energy by 2025

South Australia

EV subsidy/rebate

Electrify public transport fleet

Reduced rego fees Government fleet targets

Reduced vehicle duty EV sales tragets

Investment in chargers

COP 26 ban new fossil fuel vehicles by 2040

EV tax EV strategy

Emissions targets and net zero pledge

» 50% emissions reduction in state-wide emissions by 2030

» Net zero by 2050

Queensland

EV subsidy/rebate

Electrify public transport fleet

Reduced rego fees Government fleet targets

Reduced vehicle duty EV sales targets

Investment in chargers

COP 26 ban new fossil fuel vehicles by 2040

EV tax EV strategy

Emissions targets and net zero pledge

» 30% reduction in state-wide emissions by 2030

» Net zero by 2050

Tasmania

EV subsidy/rebate

Electrify public transport fleet

Reduced rego fees Government fleet targets

Reduced vehicle duty EV sales tragets

Investment in chargers

COP 26 ban new fossil fuel vehicles by 2040

EV tax EV strategy

Emissions targets and net zero pledge

» Has achieved net zero emissions as a state for the past six years

» Net zero by 2030

Northern Territory

EV subsidy/rebate

Electrify public transport fleet

Reduced rego fees Government fleet targets

Reduced vehicle duty EV sales tragets

Investment in chargers

COP 26 ban new fossil fuel vehicles by 2040

EV tax EV strategy

Emissions targets and net zero pledge

» Net zero by 2050

The Australian Government has committed to reducing Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by 43% by 2030, and to net zero emissions by 2050. But this target still falls short of what is necessary to limit warming to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels in line with the ‘Paris Agreement’ – which is the international treaty on climate change which seeks to strengthen the global response to this threat. And when it comes to tackling harmful vehicle emissions, WA and Australia are clearly falling behind the rest of the developed world. We need to act now, before it’s too late.

Connected

How our cities, towns and neighbourhoods are planned, designed and managed influences many aspects of our lives. Like where we live, work, and socialise, and how we move around. And how physically and socially connected we feel to the people and places that matter to us has a powerful impact on our quality of life and overall wellbeing. Communities are strongest when they feel connected.

3 in 4

RAC members say they want to get more involved in their community.

2022 online poll of RAC members.

Our state is vast, and our population will continue to grow. While this brings many benefits, it also creates significant challenges in accommodating growth, catering for the increasing demands on our transport system and enhancing access to employment, education and other essential services and amenities. And we need to do all this without losing the things that

A sprawling city

make our local areas great places to live.

The Perth metropolitan area stretches more than 120km along the coast, yet only 50km inland.

Communities on the fringes of the metro area are typically characterised by low-density housing and are more reliant on the car due to limited travel options or access to the things that matter to them and their daily lives, locally.

With employment more concentrated in and around the Perth Central Business District (CBD), many residents travel long distances to get to and from work. This puts significant pressure on our roads and key public transport routes, particularly during peak times. It means residents waste a lot of time travelling or sitting in congestion when they could be doing better things, like spending time with their families.

If our urban area continues to sprawl with new housing being largely focused on the fringes, and without better planning and design of communities and transport, these challenges will continue to grow.

In many cities around the world, the concept of 15-minute neighbourhoods is coming to life, where everything you need – like shops, cafes, restaurants, your child’s school, your gym, etc. – can be accessed within quarter of an hour by public transport, foot or two wheels from where you live.

Public transport

Our challenge

» By 2050, the Perth and Peel region is expected to be home to 3.5 million people – that’s an extra 1.5 million people – and around 800,000 new homes will be needed21;

» More than half of new homes are currently being built in previously undeveloped areas (or greenfield sites) in and beyond the outer suburbs, contributing to the continued urban sprawl of Perth22;

» Between 2002 and 2017, the average commuting time to work in Perth increased by nearly 10 minutes (from 49.9 minutes to 59.3 minutes), the maximum average commuting time Perth members think is acceptable is about 49 minutes)23;

» Each day , there are an estimated 4.2 million private car trips in Perth, with 2.8 million of these trips being under 5km24;

» Pre-COVID-19, the cost of congestion in Perth was forecast to more than double from $1.5 billion in 2016 to $3.6 billion per annum by 2031 and the cost of crowding on public transport to increase nearly tenfold from $17 million to $159 million24;

» We’re seeing major investment focus on expanding heavy rail to and beyond the outer suburbs, but access also needs improving in the inner areas of Perth. Many of Perth’s most important centres for activity and growth (such as those with significant commercial activity, essential services, and shopping) can be reached by less than 5% of residents within 45 minutes by public transport25. Public transport options in regional WA are limited;

» Perth has the second lowest proportion of journey to work trips by bus of all capital cities in Australia26 and is the most expensive capital city in Australia for weekly public transport costs27;

» WA has the lowest proportion of journey to work trips by walking and cycling of all states and territories, and Perth the lowest of all capital cities in Australia28;

» The national rate of walking and riding to school has dropped from 75 per cent to 25 per cent over the past 40 years, and in the Perth metropolitan area it is at 20 per cent. Travel to school accounts for more than 18 per cent of morning peak car trips in Perth – this equates to around 250,000 car trips and approximately 1.06 million vehicle kilometres travelled by car each day. In addition to health costs associated with physical inactivity, car travel to school in the Perth metropolitan area is estimated to cost the economy over $186 million annually29; and

» Dissatisfaction with existing cycling infrastructure is high and fear of sharing the roads with motorists is a main reason for not cycling more often30

Did you know?

Cost of transport

According to the Australian Automobile Association’s latest Transport Affordability Index:

It costs the average Perth family: which is almost

$372 14%

to move around our city per week

of the average Perth household income

Petrol prices reached record highs in WA during the 2021/2022 financial year, peaking at a record daily average of 223.4 cents per litre on 29 June for unleaded petrol in the Perth metropolitan area. It followed a run of elevated petrol prices that resulted in an annual average price of 169.9cpl for FY22, a record high compared to previous financial years.

While overall transport costs remained high, there was an

$18

per week decrease in public transport spend attributed to WA Government’s two-zone fare cap which commenced in January 2022

Almost

1 in 2

members are driving less often because of the impact of fuel prices

2022 survey of RAC members

We urgently need better policy, planning and transport infrastructure and services to connect people and places, and create more liveable communities across Perth and WA.

Safe activities and initiatives

No matter how we choose to move around, we should be safe in doing so. All of us have a responsibility to ensure our roads and transport system are safe for everyone.

To improve safety, we need to take a Safe System approach. That is, safe road users, safe vehicles, safe roads and roadsides, safe speeds and post-crash response. The Safe System recognises that everyone makes mistakes, and the human body is fragile. It seeks to prevent crashes from occurring and to lessen the severity of injuries if a crash does occur

We seek to align our social and community impact activities and initiatives with the Safe System approach. This year, to help drive positive outcomes, we’ve progressed a range of activities and initiatives with our members, the community, government and/or others. This has included things like representing road users on the Road Safety Council and other government working groups; advocating for key policy and infrastructure priorities (refer to our recent publications via https://rac.com.au/about-rac/advocating-change/ reports/), delivering campaigns, road-safety related sponsorship and doing other impactful initiatives like those showcased in this report.

Influencing

Our Top Priority: the Regional Road Safety Program

Since 2019, we’ve been calling on the State and Australian governments to fully fund a landmark State Government proposal to deliver low-cost safety treatments across 17,000km of the State’s regional road network. These roads connect nearly every regional town and community in WA.

Treatments include sealing shoulders, installing audible edgelines, medians and/or centrelines to address run-off-road and head on crashes.

Delivered in full, this $900 million program is expected to:

» Prevent more than 2,100 people from being killed or seriously injured

» Reduce regional road trauma by up to 60%

» Return more than $4 for every $1 spent

» Create thousands of jobs and training opportunities

To secure accelerated funding, we have continued to make the program the key focus of our State and Federal budget submissions each year, as well as our Federal Election Priorities this year, and we’ve been undertaking a range of government and stakeholder relations activities.

We were pleased to welcome an additional $159 million in State and Federal funding committed in the 2022/23 State Budget (on top of the $669 million committed to date). Over 9,000 km of regional roads will receive life-saving upgrades by mid-2023.

$828 million has been committed over four years to date.

Taking a pit stop for driver safety

Influencing

Risky Roads

The RAC Risky Roads survey is the largest of its kind in the State, highlighting the safety concerns of WA road users. Any road or intersection that people feel poses a safety risk for motorists, bike riders, motorcycle riders, pedestrians or others can be nominated, from local streets to major highways.

2022 Risky Roads Survey

This year, we launched our sixth Risky Roads campaign. We received just over 10,000 nominations for metropolitan and regional roads and intersections considered as risky by our members and the community.

Metropolitan WA - Top Risky Roads

1 Farrall Road, Midvale

2 Mitchell Freeway Southbound, West Perth entry

3 Neaves Road, Banksia Grove to Bullsbrook

Metropolitan WA - Top Risky Intersections

1 Marmion Avenue & Seacreast Drive, Sorrento

2 Victoria Street & Stirling Highway & Curtin Avenue, Cottesloe

3 Campersic Road & Haddrill Road, Baskerville

Regional WA - Top Risky Roads

1 South Western Highway, Bunbury to Walpole

2 Great Eastern Highway, The Lakes to Coolgardie

3 Albany Highway, Armadale to Albany

Regional WA - Top Risky Intersections

1 Chester Pass Roundabout, Albany

2 Bussell Highway and Capel Drive, Capel*

3 Forrest Highway and Raymond Road, Australind

We use the results to highlight the community’s safety concerns and call for funding for upgrades to address identified safety issues.

Previous Risky Roads campaigns have had significant impact. Of the 20 riskiest roads and intersections identified by the WA community in 2019, over half have works funded to improve safety.

Spotlight on Denny Avenue, Kelmscott (ranked #1 in 2017 and #4 in 2019metropolitan road)

Issues identified: Poorly timed traffic lights; Little chance to turn/cross traffic; Confusing layout

Funded: Works funded by State and Federal Government

Improvement: The Denny Avenue level crossing was permanently closed on 1 April 2021 as part of the METRONET Level Crossing Removal program. A new east-west connection rail-over-road underpass has been built at Davis Road. With the railway boom gates previously having been down an average of one minute and 44 seconds each time, and a total average closure of three hours and seven minutes per day, removing this crossing increased safety for pedestrians, cyclists and motorists, as well as reducing road congestion and revitalising the local area. Risky Roads highlighted Denny Avenue as a big concern for the community and this was highlighted by the State Government as a key consideration in progressing and designing the project.

Spotlight on Bussell Hwy, Busselton and Capel (ranked #1 in 2014 and 2019, and #5 in 2017 – regional road)

Issues identified: Lacks overtaking opportunities; Narrow road, lanes or bridges; Lacks median strip/ traffic separation.

Funded: Works funded by State Government

Improvement: The Bussell Highway duplication is underway, with Stage 1 (a 5km section between the Capel Bypass to Hutton Road) having been upgraded in 2021 and Stage 2 (15km section between Bunbury and Busselton) being upgraded now. Works include new lanes, road improvements and bridge construction. This will increase vehicle capacity, provide safer overtaking opportunities, and enhance traffic flow.

*This year, Main Roads WA reduced the speed limit at the Capel turn-off of Bussell Highway from 110km/h to 80km/h, in response to a long-running community campaign to reduce the speed limit in this area. We continue to support community-led speed reduction campaigns like Capel, as well as Narrikup in the Great Southern, which appealed to reduce the limit on Albany Highway from 110 kph to 90kph after six people have died in six years.

Did you know?

Safer speeds

Travel and impact speed greatly affect the likelihood and/or severity of a crash. The human body is fragile and can only tolerate a certain amount of energy or force in the event of a crash. The speed at which the colliding objects (e.g. cars, buses, bicycles, people) are travelling is critical to whether those involved survive.

The risk of a vulnerable road user, such as pedestrian, cyclist or motorcyclist being fatally or seriously injured in a crash rapidly increases from around 30km/h. As a result, the fatality risk for pedestrians being hit at 50km/h becomes approximately double that of being hit at 40km/h and approximately five times as great as being hit at 30km/h. And for a vehicle occupant, the chances of being fatally or seriously injured in a head-on crash rapidly increases from about 70km/h.

With research showing a 10% reduction in average speed can reduce crashes causing death or serious injury by around 30% in high-speed environments31 accelerating action around safer speeds is a significant opportunity.

We’re partnering with the City of Busselton and Shire of Augusta Margaret River to collaborate on safer speeds trial projects. This will take a holistic and coordinated approach to reviewing road speeds and trialling appropriate speed limit reductions. We are supporting the local governments with planning, implementation, communication and engagement, and evaluation of the speed limit reductions. The trials will be implemented for two to three years to enable behaviours to adjust and aid evaluation.

National Road Safety Week Grants

Influencing

Low cost metropolitan intersection program

Almost one in two crashes in the Perth metropolitan area occur at one of its more than 50,000 intersections32. Urban intersections can be particularly risky due to higher volumes of road users travelling at different speeds in multiple directions. In the five years to end-2021, 91 people were killed at metropolitan intersections and 2,862 people were seriously injured – at an estimated economic cost of $1.6 billion33

Austroads research has shown that installing roundabouts can cut the overall number of crashes and injury by up to 75%. Even when traffic volumes are high, Main Roads WA data shows crash incidence falls by at least half when roundabouts are installed.

Initially started as a pilot, the Low-Cost Urban Road Safety Program from Main Roads WA is working to provide simple but effective changes to the local road network to reduce crashes and save lives. Working with Local Governments, Main Roads can identify areas where crashes occur at above-average rates, and work towards introducing inexpensive measures including, in many cases, mini roundabouts.

We’ve been calling for funding towards an ongoing program to deliver low-cost treatments across the metropolitan road network to encourage safer travel speeds through intersections and address common crash issues. This program has been one of our top priorities in our State and Federal Budget submissions for several years, as well as our Federal Election Priorities this year. $16 million has been committed to date.

As part of our ongoing efforts to save lives on WA roads, this year for National Road Safety Week we focused on supporting community-led action to improve community knowledge and understanding of what it takes to stay safe on the roads. With locals leading locals, it’s a great way to generate genuine conversations.

We partnered with the Road Safety Commission and sponsored 12 grassroots events in nine regional towns and three metro locations. The events were run by local organisations and community groups from Margaret River in the south to Kununurra in the north.

Each event covered a range of road safety topics tailored to a variety of road users. Activities included:

» A cycling safety community breakfast;

» A walk / ride to school event, followed by the RAC Around the Roads education program;

» Child car restraint installation workshops;

» Motorcyclist ‘Ride Right’ workshops focusing particularly on young motorcyclists;

» A ‘Meet and Greet’ with local police;

» Skateboarding and scooter road safety workshops;

» Fluro Friday – encouraging the use of high visibility equipment for pedestrians and cyclists travelling at night;

» Colouring and wheelie bin sticker competitions; and

» Coffee pit stops inviting regional drivers to sign the ‘drive so others survive’ pledge.

Case Study

Why

Regional Western Australia is home to some of the most beautiful places in the world. More people are choosing to holiday and travel within WA, which often means driving on roads they may be unfamiliar with. With regional WA consistently overrepresented in road fatalities, we wanted to provide education and training about driving and towing to help keep people safe on WA roads.

What

We launched Safe Travels in 2020, providing our members and the WA community with information and a range of services to prepare for their road trips.

Caravans can be tricky and challenging at times to tow and manoeuvre, so we provide with free caravan safety sessions with a professional instructor. Participants learn how to safely reverse a caravan, check tyres, and load a caravan or trailer correctly.

This year, we also introduced Driving on Regional Roads sessions. These provide a forum to discuss tips and information for driving alongside road trains, caravans and near wildlife, as well as on unsealed roads. It also highlights the importance of driving to the conditions.

We continued to offer free community vehicle checks at several metropolitan and regional locations, particularly around school holiday periods.

How

Caravan safety sessions run for two hours, and include a talk on the safety, legalities and practicalities of towing, and participants can get hands-on supervised practice reversing safely in a closed environment.

Free Vehicle Health Checks are undertaken by our qualified patrols and technicians. Each safety check includes an inspection of tyres, lights, windscreen and a battery test, with recommendations and maintenance advice provided to vehicle owners.

Impact

Despite the challenges presented by COVID-19 restrictions this year:

participants attended caravan safety sessions, in Perth, Bunbury, Busselton, Albany and Esperance

free vehicle checks were completed at event days across Perth and Bunbury

participants attended Driving on Regional Road sessions in Perth

Want to take the worry out of preparing for your next WA adventure?

Make the most of RAC’s free vehicle health checks and caravan safety training sessions with Safe Travels and Visit: rac.com.au/safetravels

RAC Safe Travels We’re there with you, helping you travel safely.

RAC Safe Travels event

51%

of participants rated their experience participating in the caravan safety session as positive to extremely positive

Our participants get a lot from the caravan safety sessions:

“Brilliant session. Such a great forum to learn, practice and ask questions. The theory and legalities were explained very well. The practical, showing the use of the hand signals, was worth its weight in gold.”

“Highly recommend this experience to all people who own or are looking to own a caravan. Wellpresented and very knowledgeable instructors.”

Driving on Regional Roads sessions are important for all drivers travelling on WA roads:

“The Driving on Regional Roads session was very good. The presenter engaged well with the diverse audience. The key messages were clear and consistent, and points were raised in logical sequence with supporting examples. Each topic was described from several perspectives, so as to relate across a very broad audience. Most importantly all of the content was highly relevant with a focus on WA conditions. This was the first RAC presentation I have attended, and I will now try to attend others.”

The most common issues identified during the vehicle health checks were low oil, faulty brakes, depleted batteries and poor tyre quality. By identifying these risks, and raising awareness about the importance of regular vehicle checks and maintenance, we know we’re helping to improve safety on our roads.

Tales from our vehicle safety check technicians:

“I identified a completely flat battery during one of the vehicle checks. Other notable issues were an oil leak onto the alternator which was causing an alert on the dash which was promptly rectified, and two cars that each failed a brake fluid test. A lot of cars had critically worn tyres which I recommended to be replaced as soon as possible.

It is so important to educate the community about the safety of their vehicle and the importance of regular servicing and checks.”

Did you know?

RAC Sort by Safety campaign

What’s your biggest priority when looking for a car to buy? Is it price, age, brand, mileage or perhaps looks? Car buyer surveys have consistently shown these are the factors most consumers focus on when buying a car, but what would happen if they made vehicle safety their priority?

While most people typically search on vehicle sales websites using other criteria, we want to encourage consumers to sort their car-buying searches by safety instead. So, we launched the RAC Sort by Safety campaign.

The campaign ran from August 2021 to May 2022 and involved advertising on online car buying sites, and in the paper, to encourage potential buyers to prioritise safety when searching for a new/used car, as well as to ensure they’re aware they can use safety ratings to ‘Sort by Safety’.

New car safety ratings are based on performance across Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) tests. These tests simulate how cars are likely to perform in a crash and the likely injuries to occupants. Cars are given 0 to 5 stars, with 4 and 5-star cars being much safer. Each year, the Used Car Safety Ratings program also reviews crash data from more than eight million police-reported road crashes and gives each car a star rating.

23,000

3,000

users accessed RAC’s Sort by Safety web page

users clicked through to the ANCAP website

Sort by Safety isn’t just a catchy name, it’s a change of behaviour – a change which could one day save your life. To find out about new and used car safety ratings, visit www.rac.com.au/sortbysafety

Support for stars on cars

80% of Western Australians support the mandatory display of safety ratings on all new and used vehicles.

Newer cars are safer

The risk of death or serious injury in a crash in a vehicle manufactured in 2018 is around 40% less than in a vehicle manufactured in 2000.

We feel so strongly about vehicle safety that we’ve had a safer cars commitment since 2012. We don’t insure or finance any (new or used) vehicles manufactured from then onwards, which have been rated by ANCAP and didn’t achieve 4 of 5 stars.

– RAC Contractor Operations Coordinator

of caravan safety session participants were new to caravanning 99%

Case Study

RAC Rescue Helicopters

Our sponsorship of the RAC Rescue helicopters is one way we’re working to reduce the devastating impacts of road crashes.

Why

We want to prevent crashes from occurring. When that’s not possible, we want to reduce the impact. The quicker emergency services can reach the scene of a serious crash, provide critical care, and transport those injured to hospital, the greater their chance of survival. The hour immediately following such crashes is known as the “Golden Hour”. This is when the chances of preventing death through prompt medical treatment are the highest.

What

The RAC Rescue helicopters, often referred to as ‘guardians in the sky’, provide vital search and rescue and critical care medical services to the WA community. We’ve been sponsoring WA’s only 24/7 emergency rescue helicopter service since 2003. The service is funded by the State Government and managed by the Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES).

How

The two RAC Rescue helicopters, based at Jandakot in Perth and at Bunbury, provide emergency medical and search services to 90% of WA’s population and can be airborne within 15 minutes of receiving an incident call.

The service allows for critical care paramedics to attend to medical emergencies in regional, rural and remote locations not easily accessible by ambulance or Flying Doctors. Between the two helicopters, RAC Rescue attends missions as far north as Jurien Bay and south to Windy Harbour in WA’s south, as well as up to 110km offshore.

RAC Rescue Experience

Since 2017, the RAC Rescue Experience has been travelling around the State to give members of the community a virtual reality experience of the life-saving service. The four-minute, 360-degree experience takes participants on a mission onboard one of the RAC Rescue helicopters. Over 6,500 people took part in the experience this year, through 25 events and community days (17 of which were in regional towns), and the RAC Imagine Program™ excursion which features the virtual reality experience as an activity.

Impact

Our sponsorship of this emergency service helps bring us closer to our Vision 2030 and every RAC member is contributing to the lifesaving work of this service.

The RAC Rescue helicopter service recently flew its 9,000th rescue mission since the commencement of the service in Perth in 2003 and Bunbury in 2016. For the past 19 years, RAC Rescue has responded to a diverse range of significant emergencies throughout WA including major traffic crashes. Research show Western Australian’s are up to 50% more likely to survive a major crash if they’re taken directly to a Perth hospital by the RAC Rescue helicopters compared to patients transported by road to a country hospital first34

This year alone, the RAC Rescue helicopters have flown 142,897 km and attended 363 incidents related to road crashes.

9,000 mission statistics 1.8 million

kilometres travelled across WA equal to travelling around the world 47 times

4,579

road crashes attended 948 6,138

search and rescues

patients transported

20,859

hours spent on missions equal to 2.4 years / 869 days non-stop in the air

The State Government will invest $26.7 million in a significant upgrade of the DFES Rescue Helicopter Service, delivering three next-generation aircraft with increased range and enhanced technology. The new models that can operate within a 350km radius of their bases at Bunbury and Jandakot, expanding the current range by 75%. The new fleet will be online and ready to assist WA communities from late 2023.

The RAC Rescue helicopters are sponsored by RAC, funded by the State Government and managed by the Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES).

Case Study

Safe Driver Trial App

We’ve been exploring if our mobile phones could help tackle the distraction they can cause when we’re behind the wheel.

Why

Inattention, whether it’s deliberate or not, is a significant cause of road trauma. Distracted driving is more than just the illegal act of holding or touching your phone. Even using hands-free (e.g. Bluetooth) devices have been shown to increase the risk of having a serious crash.

You are almost

4 x 17%

more likely to end up in hospital after a crash if you’re using your phone while driving35

of fatalities on WA roads in 2021 were reported as being due to driver inattention36

Despite the risks, an RAC survey found

4 in 5Western Australians admit to using their mobile phone while in control of a vehicle at least sometimes37

We want to help reduce mobile phone distraction behind the wheel to save lives and serious injuries on our roads.

What

In partnership with Sentiance, an intelligence-driven data science and behaviour change company, we developed and tested a mobile phone app called Safer Driver. The Safer Driver app uses research and proven behavioural change techniques to coach people to help them avoid using their phone while driving.

How

More than 800 RAC members and non-members took part in a 30-day trial, and we had two participant groups. In one, participants received the full version of the Safer Driver app. This collected data about how often the phone was used or simply handled during car trips and participants received feedback about this. The app set challenges and shared tips and coaching to reduce mobile phone use behind the wheel. No challenges were set, or information shared, while participants were driving. The other group received a version of the app that only mapped their journeys for the 30-days, then they received the full version.

» 1,006 people took part in a pre-trial survey to tell us about their attitudes, intentions and current behaviour when it comes to mobile phone use behind the wheel.

» 814 people downloaded and used the app during the 30-day trial period.

» 491 participants took part in a post-trial survey to share their experiences, views on the app’s impact, and suggestions for improvement.

Impact

To evaluate the effectiveness of the app, we compared the reductions in mobile phone distraction at week one and week four for eligible participants.

75%

1 in 2

43%

of participants who received coaching during the trial reduced their phone use

participants who received coaching reduced their distraction by 57% or more

of participants reported they had stopped or reduced their in-car phone use through the Safer Driver app

2 in 3

47%

participants agreed that the app motivated them to reduce their phone use while driving

of participants would use an app like Safer Driver long term

The trial showed apps like this can be effective in informing people about and encouraging safer driving behaviours. We’ll continue to explore innovative ways to encourage road users to make positive changes to their driving behaviour and reduce inattention and distraction on our roads.

Mobile phone use outside of the car

Sustainable activities and initiatives

The mobility choices we make today should not impact negatively on the lifestyle and choices of future generations.

To reduce harmful emissions from vehicle travel, we need greater uptake of low and zero emission vehicles, better fuel quality and mandatory CO2 emission standards for new vehicles. We’re also taking steps to offset emissions from our own vehicle fleet and support our members and people to make more sustainable transport choices.

This year, to help drive positive outcomes, we’ve progressed a range of activities and initiatives with our members, the community, government and/or others. This has included our ongoing participation on government working groups such as the WA Advocacy for Consumers of Energy Forum and Electric Vehicle Working Group; advocating our key policy and infrastructure priorities including through submissions on issues such as electric vehicle taxation, light vehicle noxious emissions standards, and fuel quality; and doing impactful initiatives like those showcased in this report.

Attitudes towards EVs and hybrids

more positive about EVs than they did 12 months ago

likely consider an EV or hybrid for their next vehicle purchase

they’ll own one in the next 10 years

The main barriers to buying an electric or hybrid vehicle are:

access to charging infrastructure range anxiety

Influencing

Electric vehicle rebates and taxation

EVs will play a significant role in reducing vehicle emissions, and community appetite is growing. It’s important that government and industry act to encourage and accelerate uptake of low and zero emission vehicles.

Amongst other things, for several years, RAC has been calling on Government to provide tax incentives and subsidies, enable the wider roll out of charging infrastructure and accelerate the transition to green energy.

This year, we welcomed funding in the WA State Budget which includes $35 million to provide up to 10,000 rebates of $3,500 for those purchasing zero emission vehicles priced below $70,000.

We do not however support the current plan to introduce a road user charge for EV drivers – which will come into effect in July 2027.

We will continue to call for policy measures to encourage and support EV uptake, particularly while fleet penetration in Australia is low.

Priorities Tracker,

Case Study

RAC Electric Highway®

This year, we were excited to install two 22kW AC destination chargers at RAC Parks & Resorts in Esperance and Monkey Mia

Why

EVs were few and far between in Australia in 2014. However, with movement happening globally, we could see the potential for low and zero emission vehicles to support a shift away from fossil fuelled transport and reduce harmful vehicle emissions for cleaner, healthier air.

At that time, we could see challenges for early adopters, not least range anxiety and lack of charging infrastructure. We’d started calling for investment to address this, but we knew more needed to be done to accelerate the provision of crucial charging infrastructure.

What

In 2015, we built an Australian-first, the RAC Electric Highway®. We wanted to ‘open the road’ between Perth and WA’s South West for EV drivers, reducing range anxiety for early adopters and inspiring and encouraging interested WA motorists to consider switching.

The RAC Electric Highway® started with 11 publicly accessible fast-charging stations connecting Perth and Augusta (approximately 520km). Today, it includes a network of 16 publicly accessible charging stations between Monkey Mia and Esperance:

» two ultra-rapid charging stations in West Perth and Australind;

» 10 fast chargers between Perth and Pemberton; and

» four destination charging stations at RAC Parks and Resorts in Busselton, Karri Valley, Esperance and Monkey Mia.

We’re charging forward on the journey to more sustainable mobility across WA.

Donnybrook

Esperance

Bunbury Busselton Busselton

Mandurah

Perth Harvey Australind

Bridgetown Margaret River

Dunsborough

Karri Valley

Augusta Pemberton

Fast charger AC charger Ultra-rapid charger

Monkey Mia

RAC electric vehicle on the streets of Perth

How

We funded, designed and constructed the Highway, working with a number of local government partners who are now the custodians of the stations in their areas. More recently, we’ve worked with our Parks and Resorts team to install destination chargers that allow guests to plug-in and recharge their EV during their stay.

The Highway is available to all EV users in WA and, as part of the Chargefox network, they can seamlessly access these and other stations across Australia through the Chargefox RFID card and app.

Impact

The RAC Electric Highway® has seen a significant increase in usage this year. From July 2021 to June 2022 alone, the Highway had:

charges on average day 3.2 times more than last year

EVs still represent a small proportion of the overall vehicle fleet in WA but the number on our roads is rapidly growing. In 2015, when we launched the RAC Electric Highway®, there were just 174 registered EVs in WA. In December 2021 this had grown to over 3,800, and as of the end of March 2022 it was 4,421 (a 13% increase in just three months).

The number of registered EVs in WA in 2022 is over 25 times higher than when we launched the Electric Highway in 2015.

Electric vehicles in WA

11,977

charges over three times more than last year >245K kW of energy consumed over four times more than last year

The most popular by far are the stations with the ultrarapid chargers in West Perth and Australind. This year we’ve also been excited to work with our partners to make the Highway even greener, proudly transitioning another five stations – Harvey, Donnybrook, Manjimup, Dunsborough and Busseltonto green energy (building on those transitioned last year – West Perth, Australind, Mandurah, Augusta, Margaret River and Bunbury).

Department of Transport WA

We’re proud to be supporting and enabling the uptake of EVs, accelerating the journey to more sustainable mobility.

How long does it take to charge?

DC Ultra-rapid charge up to 350kW 400km~15 minutes

DC fast charge up to 50kW 60km~15 minutes

AC slow charge up to 22kW 30km~15 minutes

The RAC Electric Highway® is funded by RAC, with the stations owned and maintained by our local government partners (Shire of Augusta-Margaret River, Shire of Bridgetown-Greenbushes, City of Bunbury, City of Busselton, Shire of Donnybrook, Shire of Harvey, City of Mandurah, and Shire of Manjimup). RAC has partnered with Chargefox to install ultra-rapid charging stations in two locations, West Perth and Australind, which are owned and maintained by Chargefox.

Influencing

The world’s longest EV charging network

The RAC Electric Highway® was intended to be a catalyst for investment by government and others in the much-needed infrastructure to support greater uptake of low and zero emission vehicles. In August 2021, the State Government committed $21 million to the Electric Vehicle Fund, announcing an infrastructure network of 90 new public charging stations at 45 locations across the state. Most chargers are planned to be operational by January 2024 and will sprawl from Kununurra to Esperance. The average distance between each proposed charging station will be around 160 kilometres.

The 2022-23 State Budget also added $22.6 million for additional charging infrastructure, including grants for local governments and small businesses, trialling EV charging facilities at four Perth train stations, and an additional eight EV chargers to extend the state charging network to the South Australian border.

We welcomed these commitments from the State Government to fund what is set to be the longest EV fast-charging network in the country – at around 5,200km.

The State Government also announced it will increase EV charging infrastructure as part of all new public building capital works (including government offices, hospitals, schools, and sports facilities) and will work with other state and national bodies to develop consistent standards and guidelines for EV charging infrastructure.

Learnings from Europe show that access to athome charging is increasingly becoming a key factor in decisions about purchasing an EV38 Many international and national jurisdictions have moved to introduce minimum charging provision requirements for new residential (and non-residential) developments in planning codes. For example, new residential developments in London need to have 20% of parking spaces with charge points and in the European Union, all residential developments with more than 10 parking spaces should have 100% EV-ready bays.

This is something we and will continue to call for, including as part of the reform of the Planning and Development Act 2005

A charging station on the RAC Electric Highway®

Case Study

The RAC Air Health Monitoring Network Change is in the air… Creating Australia’s most comprehensive air quality sensor network and system for healthier air.

Why

Air pollution causes harm to human health and the environment, and in major cities across Australia, like Perth, motor vehicles are a key source of emissions39 Our air quality is not as bad as some cities in other countries. However, we know that 3,236 Australian deaths in 2018 were attributed to air pollution exposure (up from 2,566 in 2015), transport emissions are projected to increase and the World Health Organisation (WHO) reports there is no safe level of air pollution.

So, to create a more sustainable future, it’s very important we act now to understand harmful vehicle emissions and ‘arrest the trend’ so that current and future generations can enjoy healthier air.

would like to know about air quality in their local area

in

would attend a workshop or event to learn how they can improve air quality 2022 online poll of RAC members

What

This year, we embarked on an exciting new initiative to establish an air health monitoring network for the Perth metropolitan area.

This will be the first of its kind and most comprehensive air quality sensor network and system in the country. Through it, we’re seeking to understand Perth’s current air quality and to identify and encourage action around policy, investment, and individual behavioural change to address harmful vehicle emissions.

Did you know?

Across the globe, different countries and jurisdictions assign different thresholds, labels and colours to classify and communicate air quality levels.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) releases guideline values which set annual means and 24-hour means for Particulate Matter 2.5 (PM2.5), Particulate Matter 10 (PM10), Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) and also Sulfur Dioxide (SO2), Ozone (O3) and Carbon Monoxide (CO) - based on limits of exposure and risk to health.

The WHO emphasises that there is no ‘safe’ or ‘risk free’ level of air pollution. So, it’s important to understand what’s happening even when the air pollutant levels are not that bad.

City beach

How

We’ve been working with a world leading air sensing technology organisation (Clarity Movement Co.), specialising in air quality monitoring, and we’ve started deploying the network of sensors.

To test and develop the concept, this year we installed 57 sensors – with the aim to have two hundred –collecting hyperlocal air quality data across Perth. We’ve also been working with air quality modelling experts to create a real-time ‘heat map’ (Shair, powered by Ramboll). In addition to data from our sensors, the model generating the heat map will include inputs from traffic emissions and industrial activity, as well as satellite and meteorological (atmospheric, weather and climate) information to provide a picture of what air quality looks like right across Perth.

» Edition 2 – Healthy air investigation. This involves exploring the issue of healthier air in the community and around the world to understand how reducing emissions can keep air healthy. This was released to 900+ primary schools in June 2022.

» Edition 3 – Action for healthy air. Students will consider what action can be taken to improve air health in their community. They’ll explore practical ideas to promote healthier air in the community and collaborate to develop healthier air initiatives, drawing on their learnings and the activities in Edition 2. This will be released to 900+ primary schools in September 2022.

The series aligns with the WA Curriculum and can be used by teachers in the classroom or by families and students at home.

If schools are hosting a sensor, the teachers and students would benefit from further hands-on education opportunities, including an investigation program using the data and insights collected by the sensor. Schools would be encouraged to do an Action for Healthy Air campaign, which could include things to discourage idling, encourage active travel to school, car free days, exclusions zones, etc.

School traffic and parking challenges

The sensors are small (not much bigger than a housebrick), lightweight, and powered by their own solar panel. They can be easily installed without modification to buildings or structures and do not cause any interference or obstruction.

We also have a reference grade monitoring station. Each sensor will be calibrated using this to ensure accuracy of the data collected. We’ll measure Particulate Matter (PM2.5 and PM10) and Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2), which are harmful to heath. We’re also working with the specialists to develop add-ons to measure Carbon Dioxide (CO2) and Black Carbon (also known as soot).

Deployment of the sensors will be in key locations, including near busy roads, in areas with high pedestrian and cyclist activity, and near schools and sensitive receptors.

To complement the RAC Air Health Monitor, we recently launched our Healthier Air Education Program. It aims to teach primary school students about the air that we breathe, and the impact that harmful vehicle emissions have on our health. It also enables students to investigate the characteristics of air pollution and healthy air in their communities and around the world, inspiring action to ensure the air is healthy for everyone.

This three-part online series covers:

» Edition 1 – What is healthy air? This provides an introduction around the air we breathe, emissions and pollutants and the benefits of healthy air. This was released to 900+ primary schools in April 2022.

According to a 2021 WA State Government report29 the national rate of walking and riding to school has dropped from 75% to 25% over the past 40 years, and in the Perth metropolitan area it is at 20%. Travel to school accounts for more than 18% of morning peak car trips in Perth – this equates to around 250,000 car trips and approximately 1.06 million vehicle kilometres travelled by car each day.

In addition to health costs associated with physical inactivity for example, car travel to school in the Perth is estimated to cost the economy over $186 million annually.

Encouraging even small changes in behaviour can help to manage traffic and parking pressures, and the associated impacts at and within the vicinity of schools, to deliver many benefits.

Impact

The RAC Air Health Monitor will be launched in late 2022. By collecting and sharing hyperlocal and real-time information about air quality, it’ll raise awareness of the issue and inform action by governments, organisations and individuals to reduce air pollution (particularly emissions from vehicles). By highlighting when air quality presents health concerns, particularly for sensitive receptors / in sensitive receptor locations, it’ll also help people to manage adverse health impacts of our current air quality.

An air health sensor

Cycling through Subiaco

Connected activities and initiatives

Western Australians need to be able to move easily around their communities using a range of private, public, and shared transport options. They also need to feel socially connected and involved in shaping their local areas.

We need good planning and design of places and transport to support vibrant and liveable communities, and for transport to be affordable and accessible for all.

Through our social and community impact activities and initiatives we seek to support this.

This year, to help drive positive outcomes, we’ve progressed a range of activities and initiatives with our members, the community and government. This has included our ongoing participation on government working groups such as the Bike Riding Reference Group; advocating for key policy and infrastructure priorities including through submissions on state planning policies and to Infrastructure WA on the draft State Infrastructure Strategy; and doing impactful initiatives like those showcased in this report.

Influencing

Guiding long-term infrastructure planning Infrastructure WA is an independent statutory body providing advice to government on the infrastructure needs and priorities for WA. RAC supported IWA’s establishment to help ensure transparent and evidence-based investment decision-making.

Over the past few years, IWA has been developing an infrastructure strategy for the State and RAC made submissions on the Strategy Discussion Paper in August 2020 and the draft Strategy in September 2021. The Strategy was subsequently released in mid-2022.

We welcomed the system-based approach to transport infrastructure planning and prioritisation, across all modes and considering both physical / built infrastructure and measures to better demand and get more from existing assets such as roads and public transport.

Generally, there is good alignment with RAC’s infrastructure and policy priorities and positions, and the recommendations in the Strategy.

Our submissions highlighted the crucial importance of an increased focus on improved road safety outcomes, including reflecting this in the Strategy’s vision – pleasingly, this was reflected in the adopted Strategy and IWA acknowledged RAC’s influence in this regard. In addition, based on stakeholder feedback including RAC’s, the final Strategy now includes the development of a public transport patronage action plan and better recognises the needs of both pedestrians and e-mobility users within the recommendations. These are important additions in guiding infrastructure planning to support a safer, more sustainable, and better-connected future for Western Australians.

Influencing

Supporting more active travel

Active mobility refers to the movement of people through (predominantly) non-motorised forms of travel, requiring an element of physical activity. Or put simply, human-powered forms of travel.

Walking and bike riding are the most common, but running, scooting, skateboarding, skating, using a wheelchair, riding an electric bicycle, scooter or other such wheeled devices can all be considered types of active mobility.

For many years, we’ve been calling for greater strategic direction and increased investment to enhance the quality of the active transport networks and create more people-friendly streets and places which provide for increased priority, amenity, and safety for these vulnerable road users.

We, and others such as the Heart Foundation, have made submissions to the State and Federal Government, as well as Infrastructure Australia, which have highlighted the important role of active transport and the need for strategies, and we’ve called for funding to be prioritised for an ongoing program and projects to support it.

We welcomed the State Government’s commitment this year to developing an Active Travel Strategy (ATS), which outlines a coordinated approach to support those walking, riding and on wheels in WA. Through our ongoing role on the Bicycle Riding Reference Group, we’ll provide key insights and input into shaping the objectives and outcomes of the ATS.

We also welcomed the State Government’s proposal to Infrastructure Australia for ‘Perth active transport improvements’, to address the lack of connections linking strategic centres. Its inclusion in the Infrastructure Priority List in June 2022, for delivery in the near term (0-5 years), is important recognition of active transport and this proposal as a nationally significant investment opportunity.

Did you know?

With a boom in electric battery technology, eRideables have emerged as a popular transport option for commuting and recreation that allows for convenient, low cost, and socially distanced travel.

E-rideables include e-scooters, e-skateboards, hoverboards, e-skates and other similar wheeled electric devices which weigh 25kg or less. E-bikes are not considered eRideables.

In response to the growing popularity of eRideables, the WA State Government introduced new regulations guiding their use in December 2021. Among other rules, riders are required to be over the age of 16 and wear a helmet. The devices are allowed to travel up to 10km/h on footpaths, 25km/h on bike paths, shared paths and local roads, and are excluded from roads with speed limits over 50km/h. A full list of regulations can be found on the Road Safety Commission website.

As a representative for road users, RAC will continue to work to promote and influence the safe use of these devices, including through upcoming State Government reviews of the new rules.

South Freo PARKlet

We’ve partnered with Westcycle and South Freo Corner Pocket Town Team to develop a community bike parklet on the South Terrace corner of Harbour Road in South Fremantle. We’ve worked with the local community to design the parklet, which will feature up to 20 bike racks, including eRideables, a repair station, bench seating, shade, and public art.

Many different types of transport by the Swan River

In December 2021, our members took part in a survey telling us about their views and experiences relating to walking and cycling in WA, and what can be done to make it easier and safer to walk and cycle more often.

Walking

Which areas do you believe the Government should prioritise to encourage people to walk more often?

Better planning of communities to provide more destinations/ amenities/transport services within walking distance

A few days a week Once a fortnight Less often

How often do you walk outside for at least 10 minutes? Five + days a week Once a week Once a month Never

Build on/improve the network of footpaths (up from 38% in 2020) Regional members listed this as their top priority (52%)

invest in improved public transport services

Better use of technologies tp improve predestrian safety

Activities to promote and market walking as both a viable and safe form of transport

Cycling by the river

Walking by the beach

Public transport

The top three changes to encourage greater use

58% 51%

better connection of public transport to activity centres outside of the Perth CBD

Improve access to train stations (e.g. more bus feeder services, better walking and cycling provision)

Influencing

Prioritising public transport

We’ve been doing a lot of policy development and media and government engagement around public transport fare increases not exceeding the rate of inflation and the need for measures to be implemented that encourage more people to use public transport. This has never been more important than now with the reduced patronage resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

make public transport free

RAC Member Priorities Tracker, March 2022

78% of regular peak hour drivers in Perth agree that Government should prioritise making public transport more affordable

RAC Member Priorities Tracker, Feb 2022

On 18 January 2021, WA Labor announced that a re-elected McGowan Labor Government would cap the price of train and bus tickets to a standard two-zone fare from January 2022. These changes came into effect 1 January 2022.

62%

10%

of survey respondents are aware of the new two-zone fare cap

use public transport more because of the fare cap

RAC Member Priorities Tracker, Dec 2021

Another way to make public transport more attractive is through increasing priority on higher frequency bus routes. We’ve been calling on the State Government to prioritise and increase provision for more sustainable and space efficient modes of transport in seeking to satisfy urban peak travel demand, including reallocating road space from general traffic to provide for public transport priority lanes.

train

Case Study

Reconnect WA

Why

Our streets and public spaces can play an important role in providing opportunities for us to connect with the people and places that matter to us. How safe, attractive, and vibrant they are has a big impact on how we use them, and ultimately our wellbeing and the liveability of our communities.

What

To help breathe new life into our cities, towns and neighbourhoods, we launched an exciting new initiative called Reconnect WA in July 2020. It provided one million dollars to helps communities to rebuild a sense of connection, vibrancy, and place. Initially one as a oneoff, due to its success, we continued it for a second year.

How

This year, we made another one million dollars available to support local governments in delivering communitybased projects to reimagine and revitalise our streets and public spaces – making them more people-focused and inviting.

Funding for lower-cost, quick win projects and more significant transformations was made available through an open application process:

applications were received from

Some Reconnect projects have been significantly delayed due to the impacts of COVID-19 on materials and labour costs and availability

Impact

The interest from local governments, our members, and the community to get involved and help drive positive change in their local areas has been inspiring. It’s been fantastic to see how well the projects delivered to date have been embraced by local people and businesses, with feedback and data showing great successes.

Since launching Reconnect WA in 2020, we’ve:

Supported

local governments 22% of all local governments in WA

members voted for shortlisted projects

projects received funding six metro and six regional

projects from the 2020 round were onthe-ground by end-June 2022

22

Awarded over

projects with in funding

$1.9m 20

local governments

Reconnect WA seeks to help reimagine and revitalise streets and public spaces to...

Create vibrant and active places for Western Australians to interact and reconnect with our cities and towns, and each other.

Inspire and empower residents and business communities to co-design and drive changes in their local area.

Lay the foundations for longer term changes to support safe, sustainable and connected communities.

We’re partnering with local governments to help revitalise streets and public spaces across WA.

Enjoying bubbles at a Reconnect WA event

Dunsborough Hannay Lane Revitalisation

Splashed with colour to create a safer, more welcoming and vibrant shared space, the Hannay Lane project aimed to transform an underutilised commercial through road into an attractive laneway for all road users. This magnificent community-driven initiative was completed in partnership with the City of Busselton, with input from the Dunsborough & Districts Progress Association and artwork by talented local artist Sam Allen. Situated close to the Djiljit Mia nature playground, the laneway has encouraged more pedestrians and cyclists to roam along the laneway, enhancing visitation to local businesses.

of visitors surveyed agreed that the changes add value and vibrancy to the Town Centre and they’d like to see similar projects replicated elsewhere

increase in daily pedestrian patronage through Hannay Lane

of drivers drove more cautiously and slowly because of the project works in Hannay Lane (based on a community survey administered by the City)

“It enhances the area- its interactive and gets people chatting… It’s a bright and interesting pick up to what was a dull laneway.”

“It looks amazing and has added a lot of character to Hannay Lane. These kinds of projects are vital to enriching our space and bringing community together.”

The City of Busselton said that the project demonstrated the ability of built environment design elements to influence vehicle and pedestrian/cyclist behaviour in shared spaces.

The project was highlighted in the Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage’s Safer Places by Design report as a good practice example.

Dunsborough Hannay Lane Revitalisation project

Northam Suspension Bridge Activation Project

Through the Reconnect WA initiative, we helped the Shire of Northam breathe new life into their treasured footbridge – the longest pedestrian suspension bridge in Australia. Designed and delivered with input from the local Noongar community, the revitalised river crossing weaves in interpretive stories of ‘The Path of the Waugal’ (soul, spirit or breath), and ‘Throwing of Sand’, as well as sand art and a sparkling ‘Emu in the stars’ installation. Another exciting element was the installation of over 1,200 lights on the bridge. The spectacular lighting can be viewed at dawn and in the evenings, daily. It can be programmed with interactive sequences, with the colours changing for the six seasons on the Noongar calendar and to project Aboriginal artwork images onto the Bilya (river).

The project was officially launched as the centrepiece of the Northam Bilya Festival, which celebrates the beginning of the Avon Descent.

Use of the bridge precinct for cultural events has increased from zero to frequent ongoing use, including by school groups and for community workshops. Visitation by the public to see and experience the bridge, artwork and stories has already visibly increased

“After the lights were turned on at the launch event, we were invited to throw a handful of sand into the river from the bridge. The Throwing of Sand is a cultural practice and a show of respect to the Waugal.”

“It was very fitting to ‘shine a light’ on the river and celebrate the cultural significance of it.”

“The bridge is fast becoming the key feature of Northam. Community participation in developing the project was high and will continue as we continue to utilise and activate the bridge and surrounds”

- Shire of Northam representative

people attended the Festival and launch event doubled from 2,000

increase in pedestrian numbers crossing the bridge prior to the project (based on CCTV footage)

The Shire of Northam reported that the project has paved the way for other permanent change, including informing future landscaping and design. The bridge and surrounds will continue to be developed with points of cultural interest and activated by the Shire.

Find out about launched and upcoming Reconnect WA projects by visiting www.rac.com.au/reconnect

Northam Suspension Bridge Activation Project

Case Study Town Team Movement and Connecting Communities Fund

Since the partnership began, we’ve provided $213,000 to more than 40 individual Town Teams to help deliver their community placemaking projects across WA:

Why

When local people feel empowered to get involved in shaping and improving the places where they live, work and socialise, communities thrive. That’s why, in 2018, we decided to become the Principal Partner of Town Team Movement and create RAC’s Connecting Communities Fund to support Town Teams across WA.

What

Town Team Movement is a not-for-profit, founded in WA. They enable local communities and governments to connect, organise and act to enhance their neighbourhoods and create better places to live, work and play. The Town Team Movement approach is innovative, creative and fun.

Through our Principal Partnership and our Fund, we’re supporting the Town Team Movement and individual Town Teams to make things happen.

How

Town Teams work collaboratively to identify opportunities for enhancements and beautification of their neighbourhoods. Each group is made up of local people and business owners who volunteer their time to reimagine and refresh public spaces and showcase a sense of belonging to their towns or suburbs.

Town Teams use community placemaking to achieve these projects. Placemaking is not government-led but people-led, and is a practical hands-on process for creating places that people will love and feel connected to.

Through RAC’s Connecting Communities Fund, we’re supporting individual Town Teams to deliver projects that:

» Turn blank spaces into great places, making them more vibrant and inviting for local community to better connect;

» Enhance public spaces, making them more vibrant and engaging for people to connect (like murals, parklets, play space, light treatments); and

» Engage the local community to support or showcase local business and activate shared or underutilised space (like community engagement activities, workshops, markets, volunteering opportunities).

Projects can be large or small in scale – like redesigning underused spaces or temporarily closing off streets to cars to allow kids to play and adults to connect.

$52k in FY20 to support 12 initiatives in FY21 to support 11 initiatives

$51k

$110k

in FY22 to support 18 initiatives

including dedicated funding to support Wheatbelt and South West Town Teams

$80k

Impact

funding available in FY23

As far south as Albany, north to Port Hedland and everything in between, the Town Team Movement recently celebrated its 100th Town Team. This has grown from just 16 individual teams only four years ago when RAC started partnering with the Town Team Movement.

A Town Team celebration event took place on Beaufort Street in Highgate, the birthplace of the very first Town Team who created the now popular Beaufort Street Festival in 2010. The night also saw the launch of ‘The Book of Doing’, a free e-book which showcases some of the key projects that have transformed community spaces up and down the state.

This year, RAC’s Connecting Communities Fund supported the delivery of 18 Town Team initiatives, providing our members and our people with an opportunity to vote for their favourite projects. Our people were also able to get involved and support some of the projects and events too.

Mural on Melrose (Leederville)

A group of passionate locals supported Town Team Movement’s Leederville Connect team to transform the Melrose Street noise wall into a vibrant mural. The public artwork now brightens up the wall separating residential Leederville and Mitchell Freeway. Guided by artists from Blank Walls and HPM 6007, locals also got to enjoy a family-friendly street party with DJs, a sausage sizzle and a bunch of fun activities.

We’re helping enable community groups to do great things.

Ignite Wicky (Wickepin)

We were proud to support the revival of the Wickepin Harvest Festival, presented by Town Team Movement’s Ignite Wicky Town Team. This festival had not been run in 30 years. Throughout the day, more than 900 people from surrounding towns attended to enjoy an art competition, sheaf and boot tossing, blade shearing, market stalls, live entertainment and plenty of kids activities.

Dalyellup Collective

A giant rainbow chair, fashion parades, and pot planting sessions were all part of the Dalyellup Twilight Easter Street Party event. The free event was a hit among the locals in the seaside town, who got to enjoy the community atmosphere with live performances, food trucks, market stalls and plenty of family-friendly activities. Organised by the Town Team Movement’s Dalyellup Collective, RAC proudly supported delivery of the ‘Big Chair’, making it a permanent town feature for locals and visitors to enjoy.

We wish to congratulate every Town Team for their dedication in creating connected communities and look forward to seeing the movement grow.

Town Teams are doing great things… join the movement!

Town Teams are groups of local people – residents, business owners, neighbours – who have come together to drive positive change, enhancing their local area by revitalising and activating community spaces. If you’re interested in making a positive change to benefit your community, why not join or start a Town Team in your area?

To find out how, visit: townteammovement.com

Wickepin Harvest Festival

Case Study

RAC Lifestyle App Trial

Supporting an active lifestyle through app-based coaching and incentives

Why

In the last decade, there has become an increasing desire for products that are technologically driven, dynamic, and personalised. People want to be empowered to take control and reduce risks in their daily life. We wanted to see if telematics could help us promote healthier lifestyles, as well as more active and sustainable mobility choices in the community..

What

We trialled a personal telematics mobile application, called the RAC Lifestyle App, to better understand how we can encourage positive behaviour change in commuting preferences and move towards more active lifestyles.

How

The Lifestyle App was trialled by 355 participants from the RAC Member Panel, engaging in unique challenges focusing on specific behaviours like walking (for exercise, leisure or errands) and choosing active or public transport over their car. Members were challenged to achieve monthly goals, and were motivated by rewards, feedback, and coaching through the app.

Impact

267 members participated in the ‘Get Active’ challenge, encouraging them to increase their base step count by 10% over 4 weeks

60% 84% achieved the goal

found the challenge enjoyable, with many commenting on the motivation it gave them to walk more

An overall increase in steps continued after the challenge without ongoing challenges and rewards.

235 members participated in the ‘Leave Your Car At Home’ challenge, aiming for a reduction in their base number of car journeys by 10% over 4 weeks:

48%

27% achieved the goal

found the challenge difficult to complete

“A good learning experience. Made me think before driving my car” – Challenge Participant

Members enjoyed engaging with the app and achieving positive behaviour changes. They expressed ongoing interest in an insightful and accurate telematics app that encourages and rewards a healthier, more active and more connected lifestyle.

2 in 3

74%

members experienced positive change because of the app

believe they’d continue using a rewards-based behaviour change app in future

a more active

Being involved

Our members are at the heart of our social and community impact efforts. We could not do what we do without them. And we do what we do for them. Together with our members, partners, and all Western Australians, we’re working towards a better WA.

There are many ways you are and can be involved.

Participate in RAC Council Elections and Annual General Meetings (AGMs)

Our member’s input is important to us. Our eligible members are encouraged to get involved in our annual Council Elections and AGMs.

The RAC Council provides guidance and direction as we serve our members in working towards a better WA. The Council is made up of 15 elected members, who are voted in by our members to represent them over a three-year term.

The nomination and election process starts in July each year, with ballot papers distributed via our member magazine Horizons and new appointments announced at that November’s AGM.

Our AGM provides an opportunity for our members to hear about the organisation’s performance from senior leaders, to ask questions and raise suggestions.

For more information, visit: rac.com.au/about-rac/purpose/agm-election

RAC members enjoying Fremantle

Share your views through surveys

Surveys are one of the ways we undertake research to help us to better understand our member’s needs, thoughts and opinions.

Our Member Priorities Tracker, launched in early 2020, gathers insights into how members are moving around their communities, their key concerns and how they think things could be improved.

3,367 members participated in 10 surveys this year

Each month, we invite members who have signed up to RAC Opinion to complete surveys with a different feature topic like road safety, cycling and congestion and many more. The member insights gained through the surveys inform our social and community impact policies and priorities.

We also ask key questions about community connectedness in every survey, which feeds directly into our Social Impact Metric. We want to see a positive change in how connected our members feel within their community.

Which mode(s) of transport do you currently use to travel to work/study?

- as driver

- as passenger

sometimes work/ study from home Train Walk

RAC Member Priorities Tracker, November 2021

Interested in sharing your opinion?

Over 100,000 members have joined RAC Opinion to take part in confidential online surveys on various topics such as transport, road safety and local community issues. We’ve also recently launched RAC Members’ Voice, our new online community in which members discuss topical issues and share their ideas with RAC and other members.

Both RAC Opinion and RAC Members’ Voice provide members with the opportunity to inform and guide what we do at RAC. This year, members have shared their feedback on topical issues such as:

Impact of rising fuel prices

1 in 2 2 in 5

members are driving their vehicle less often, while others are recreating more in their local area.

Climate change

members are very concerned about climate change, with most members supporting RAC to become carbon neutral

Priorities for WA

Healthcare and the cost of living are the top two issues that members believe should be a priority in WA.

To find out more and to join RAC Opinion or RAC Members’ Voice, visit www.rac.com.au/opinion

Cast a vote for community projects

Member Vote is an initiative that allows our members to have a voice in what community projects RAC supports. Following a successful pilot initiative last year, we were excited to once again give members the chance to get involved in helping us decide projects to be delivered through our Connecting Communities Fund and Reconnect WA initiative this year.

members voted for Connecting Communities Fund projects,

with 16 Town Team projects being supported to the value of

The most popular projects for the Connected Communities Fund as voted for by our members were:

1. Horrocks Town Team

Horrocks Lookout Revitalisation, transforming an underutilised beachfront zone into a reflective and colourful public open space for the local community that was impacted by Cyclone Seroja. This was completed in July 2022 and is now a permanent beach lookout for the community.

2. Northam Town Team

Old Railway Line Heritage Project, redesigning the space to highlight local history, connecting people with the Old Railway track that dissected and defined the Northam town centre until 1966 –watch out for this space to be revitalised in September 2022.

3. Discover Dianella

members voted for Reconnect WA projects,

with 12 local government projects being supported ot the value of being supported to the value of

Dig Dig Park, a run-down park fondly known as Dig Dig Park will be upgraded into an inviting play space that will attract young families to relax and connect. The project includes community artwork, a toy garage and little street library – be sure to check out the revamped park when it’s completed in September 2022.

The favourites for Reconnect WA were the Paddy Troy Mall in the City of Fremantle and Dardanup Depot Revitalisation in the Shire of Dardanup.

Keep an eye out through our Your Member Update email for future opportunities to cast a vote.

Local community project team in Narembeen

Attend an event

Each year we host various events to engage, educate and inspire our members and the WA community.

One of the favourites for members and our people alike is the Gold Life Morning Tea. This year we acknowledged and celebrated 1,300 loyal members who reached 50 years of membership. Two events were held at Crown, with a presentation from our Group CEO on the history of RAC and the growth of the Club over the past 50 years. Our members were gifted a gold pin to mark the occasion and were presented with a copy of The Road Patrol magazine from the year they first joined.

Spotlight on road safety education

We offer free road safety education programs, resources, and events to primary and secondary school students across WA. Despite the challenges presented by COVID-19 this year, together with our road safety education partners we were still able to reach 35,670 students

» This year, our Community Education and Motoring teams co-designed and piloted an interactive Car Maintenance and Safety workshop for high school students. Building on our On the Roads Program, we identified a gap to provide young adults with theoretical and hands on experience around basic car maintenance and knowledge. These life skills are critical as they begin learning to drive and consider their first vehicle purchase.

147high school students participated in a workshop

» In partnership with Happiness Co, we also developed another new workshop this year for high schoolers about how self-esteem and mental health can impact choices behind the wheel. The What’s Driving Your Decisions workshop encourages students to reflect on their emotions and self-awareness, connecting mental wellbeing with peer pressure and the role these play in making good decisions on and off the road.

students attended the What’s Driving Your Decisions workshop this year

» We partner with the Paraplegic Benefit Fund to support their Road Injury Prevention program, where road crash victims with spinal injuries are empowered to share their story in secondary schools.

» Since 2012 we’ve hosted RAC bstreetsmart, a free road safety event for Year 10 to 12 students at RAC Arena. Across 10 years, this annual event has educated more than 65,000 secondary school students about the consequences of distracted driving, speeding and drink driving. It features a crash scene re-enactment attended by real emergency services, just as it would occur at a real crash site. Students also hear from guest speakers who have been directly impacted by road trauma.

» Since 2019 we’ve also been delivering RAC Project Road Smart® to senior schools in regional WA. Students watch a crash re-enactment filmed as a docudrama and hear from guest speakers. Responding to the challenges of COVID-19, we piloted our first virtual RAC Project Road Smart to secondary schools across the Wheatbelt region in June.

1,333

students attended Project Road Smart events in Broome, Geraldton, Albany, Wheatbelt (online) and Esperance

» We continue to deliver our comprehensive inclass presentations and workshops at primary and secondary schools across WA.

14,881

primary students took part this year and 19,456 secondary students took part this year

Our annual Leavers and Easter Pit Stops along Forrest Highway continue to be a great reminder of the need to pull over for a break while on a road trip.

643

people took a break from their drive and enjoyed free refreshments and vehicle checks from our RAC Roadside Assistance Patrols

Trials and demonstrations

Through trials and demonstration projects we’re helping our members and the community (as well as industry leaders and government) get involved in imagining, experiencing, and helping to shape a safe, sustainable and connected future.

RAC Intellibus® Trial

There are already several automated safety features in vehicles on our roads, such as emergency autonomous braking and lane-keeping assistance. With technology rapidly advancing, RAC started to imagine the possibilities of automated vehicle (AV) technology to dramatically change the way we move around and save lives on our roads. We knew we needed to know more about this technology and help create a roadmap for the introduction of AVs into our transport system

In 2016, with support from the WA State Government and City of South Perth, we launched the RAC Intellibus®, Australia’s first driverless and electric vehicle trial operating on public roads The trial aims to:

» Explore the benefits and potential impacts of driverless vehicles;

» Give Western Australians the chance to see, use and experience driverless technology; and

» Help WA and Australia prepare for the changing nature of mobility and support the safe transition of these vehicles onto our roads.

R/Evolve public artwork

Six years on, and to celebrate the long-running partnership and the success of the RAC Intellibus® trial, RAC and the City of South Perth jointly commissioned a new artwork titled R/evolve. R/evolve was unveiled on Tuesday 31 August 2021 on the South Perth foreshore, marking the location as one of the very first places in the world where a driverless vehicle became a part of everyday experience. Standing at three metres tall, the sculpture conveys a sense of rapid movement and progress, symbolising the changing nature of transport in our growing city. The shapes and spaces also provide different angles and frames of the Perth skyline. The concept, by Tony Jones Art Projects, was inspired by futuristic designs, popular science fiction and automotive design. The R/evolve artwork is located next to the RAC Intellibus® Hub.

R/Evolve sculpture at Mindeerup, South Perth foreshore

The RAC Intellibus® is a Level 4 (High Automation) vehicle. All aspects of the driving task are automated in certain environments, with the vehicle using multiple sensors and telecommunications systems to localise itself and detect obstacles. This enables it to interact and react within a dynamic road environment.

Imagining the possibilities

This year, we facilitated several group rides on the Intellibus® in South Perth. From exciting primary and secondary school experiences, hosting government stakeholders and coordinating inclusive tours for people of all abilities, we have been incredibly proud to share the RAC Intellibus® experience with so many members of the WA community.

The Intellibus® trial has helped us foster a better understanding of AV technology, enabling WA to take an informed and leading role in developing initiatives to facilitate, regulate and demonstrate these systems.

The trial’s also enabling us to gain and share insights with government and industry about how these vehicles could safely operate on our roads and as part of our transport system. This has included things like our learnings around passenger, road user, and community experiences and readiness; privacy, system security and insurance considerations; and vehicle technical capabilities and operational performance, which are all important considerations in preparing for the driverless future.

Want to jump on board for the driverless journey?

To book a ride, visit: rac.com.au/intellibus

Did you know?

Since the Intellibus® first started carrying passengers on public roads:

passengers have experienced driverless vehicle technology firsthand

driverless kilometres have been travelled on public roads in South Perth, Busselton and Geraldton

think a vehicle like the Intellibus® could be used as a service in WA in the future

Despite the ongoing impact of COVID-19 on operations, this financial year alone, the Intellibus® has travelled 4,000 driverless kilometres carrying 3,500 passengers

RAC Imagine Program™

The RAC Imagine Program™ was launched in 2019. It provides an opportunity for young Western Australians (Year 5 and 6) students to discover past and future technologies, and learn about the changing nature of transport, mobility and road safety, whilst addressing aspects of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and HASS subjects (Humanities and Social Sciences).

During the excursion, students participate in six planned activities.

In collaboration with the City of South Perth, the Program:

» Helps students see and experience both past and future technologies;

» Educates students about AV technology; and

» Discusses next steps for safer, more sustainable and better-connected communities.

This year, we celebrated our 100th RAC Imagine Program™ excursion in South Perth, reaching a milestone of 3,000 students who have attended the Program since its inception in September 2019. Schools have participated in the Program this year from as north as Yanchep and as south as the Great Southern region.

With 98% of teachers rating their school’s experience as extremely positive, we continue to receive fantastic feedback and support from both teachers and students about the Program. To find out more, visit rac.com.au/imagine

RAC Imagine Program™ excursion

RAC Intellibus® Ride

Students experience Australia’s very first Automated Vehicle trial and head off on a 3.5 km journey starting at the Old Mill. The RAC Intellibus® travels along the South Perth Esplanade, where students observe how the vehicle interacts with road users.

AV Technology and the Future of Transport

Students will develop an understanding of odometry, global positioning systems (GPS) and light positioning and range sensors (LIDARs) work together to enable the Intellibus® to operate successfully. Students gain an appreciation of how AV technology can contribute to safer, more sustainable and more connected future transport.

Old Mill Tour by the City of South Perth

Students discover the significance of Kareenup and Goorgygoorgup (Mill Point and Millers Pool) and learn about the thousands of years of Noongar use of this iconic site.

The Old Mill is WA’s second oldest colonial building. Students take a guided tour and experience the site’s many incarnations - as a working gristmill, pleasure grounds, Water Police base and artists’ retreat.

The tour juxtaposes the new technology of the Intellibus® with the 19th century cogs, ropes and stones of the Mill, prompting students to contemplate the impact of technology on their everyday lives and the myriad links to past generations that are often overlooked.

RAC Rescue Experience

Students use virtual reality headsets to experience an RAC Rescue Experience in action attending a car accident. Students find out more about the benefits of the RAC Rescue helicopter, and how the initiative supports RAC’s road safety advocacy program.

Coding and Road Safety

Students use the Edison robot, which teaches computational thinking and computer programming in a hands-on way. Students build basic software and coded commands that enable them to interpret problems and develop solutions in real time.

Imagine the Possibilities

Students reflect on their learning from the activities by creating models of potential transport solutions. This activity encourages students to practice ideation and critical thinking. By challenging students to work together to design and deploy their own mode of mobility, students feel confident to think big and imagine their future.

Our people

When you work at RAC, you’re part of the driving force for a better WA.

As a purpose-led organisation, our people are central to the work we do to help create a safer, more sustainable and better-connected WA. We continually strive to ensure our workplace is inclusive, culturally rich and professionally rewarding.

Diversity and Inclusion

Our approach to Diversity and Inclusion includes working groups which guide and progress action for Reconciliation, Enabling All Abilities, Gender Equality and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersexual, Asexual (LGBTQIA+).

» Through our Enabling All Abilities Action Plan (EAAAP) and Enabling All Abilities (EAA) working group, we’re committed to delivering:

» Education to improve awareness relating to all abilities;

» Improved accessibility across RAC for our people and our members; and

» Increasing employment opportunities for people of all abilities.

RAC staff at Wickepin Harvest Festival

» The EAA working group has delivered training and communications throughout the year, working closely with our Dynamic Places and Spaces team during workplace refurbishments to ensure a focus on accessibility and inclusive design for our people and our members. On International Day of People with Disability, we hosted marketplace events across our workplaces for all RAC people to attend. The marketplace featured a variety of stallholders, all of whom were people with disability who own/run their own small business.

» This year, our Executive team hosted and completed four rounds of Gender Equity listening tours, which provided some incredibly valuable insights for our Gender Equity Working Group to build into their planning. An impactful outcome from the listening tours was the installation of our Noonook wellness room at our Collier Pass office. Noonook means ‘you’ in Noongar, which perfectly portrays how the room can be used – it’s up to you.

» We announced the official formation of Prism this year, our newest Identity Resource Group who represent the LGBTQIA+ community at RAC.

Our Prism group have finalised an Action Plan which lays out our focus for the next three yearsenhancing the recognition, inclusion and belonging of people who identify as, or are allies of, LGBTQIA+ at RAC.

» In line with the Action Plan, we recognised International Pronouns Day, raising awareness of gender and identity, and encouraging adoption of pronouns in meeting introductions and email signatures.

» We celebrated Pride Month in November with events, Q&As and forums, and to show visible support for our LGBTQIA+ people and members, we launched our two RAC Pride Patrol Vans.

Spotlight on accessibility and inclusion at our RAC Esperance Holiday Park

As more Western Australians continue to ‘wander out yonder,’ it’s important that we continue to address the accessibility needs of our members and the wider WA community. In line with our commitment to Diversity and Inclusion, guests at the newly refurbished RAC Esperance Holiday Park can enjoy accessible features and facilities including:

» A Chair lift for the pool;

» A fully accessible two-bedroom bay villa;

» Wide access doors and accessible thresholds in all shared use buildings. This includes reception, the kitchen area, recreation room and bathrooms;

» Continuous and AS1428 compliant accessible paths. This enables uninterrupted paths of travel to, into and within park buildings for wheelchair users;

» An accessible safe path of travel from the park to the beach (crossing of Goldfields Road). We worked with the Shire of Esperance to construct a new pedestrian refuge;

» Dedicated section of lowered benchtops and sink in the new camp kitchen;

» Mobility access for all barbecues throughout the park (ease of use for wheelchair users) with the installation of Christie ‘A-Series’ All-Access Barbeques;

» A separated, fully accessible bathroom in all ablution blocks; and

» Our pet friendly park cabin features purpose-built ramp access for older and less mobile dogs.

RAC Patrol decked out for Pride

RAC Esperance Holiday Park

Reconciliation at RAC

The establishment of our Reflect Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) more than seven years ago commenced our formal commitment to reconciliation. It provided the opportunity for us to establish a baseline for our organisation’s understanding of cultural awareness and build the foundations for improved relationships, respect and opportunities.

Launched in 2021 we are now delivering on our third RAP. This Innovate RAP will run for two years, concluding in August 2023. Our collaborative efforts are focused on cultivating mutual respect between Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and non-First Nations people, deepening our knowledge and acceptance of our shared history and encouraging positive procurement and employment objectives.

Our leaders and people have been completing Cultural Awareness Training, a commitment made within our RAP and part of our reconciliation journey. The informative and interactive training, led by Danny Ford OAM and Jon Ford from Kambarang Services, is a forum to gain appreciation and awareness of Aboriginal cultures, values, beliefs, and practices in an organisational context.

Each year National Reconciliation Week and NAIDOC week are used as a period of reflection, celebration and to refocus our efforts on our ongoing commitment to reconciliation in this state. We facilitate activities designed to engage, educate and inspire a greater understanding of Aboriginal peoples, history and culture.

We are particularly proud of the Acknowledgment of Country art project. Five Aboriginal artists across five different Countries were selected to represent their culture and heritage. The original artworks were proudly displayed at RAC locations on the Country the artwork represents. In a collaboration between Aboriginal graphic design firm Nani Creative, the artists and our Creative Services team, the pieces were digitised so they could be displayed throughout communities during National Reconciliation Week, National Road Safety Week, and the WA Day long weekend. These outdoor displays featured across billboards and buses, raising awareness of Aboriginal lands and cultures and encouraging people to take care on the roads during their journeys.

Spotlight on Jawun secondments

Jawun is a not-for profit organisation that partners with Indigenous organisations throughout Australia. Jawun aims to build capacity and empower Indigenous people and their communities through the placement of secondments supported by corporate, government and philanthropic organisations. Secondees are given the opportunity to share their expertise and support the achievement of specific development goals as determined by each partnering organisation. The outcomes from Jawun secondments create lasting, material and measurable improvements in the lives of the Indigenous people and their communities.

Through our eight-year partnership with Jawun, our people have been enabled to participate in on Country secondments, applying their skills to support a project initiated by a Western Australian Aboriginal organisation. To date, we’ve supported 31 secondments in the Kimberley and the South West of WA, a result that truly supports our commitment to reconciliation and our broader diversity and inclusion strategy.

Across 31 secondments, our RAC Jawun Ambassadors have contributed

186weeks of support to Aboriginal organisations and their communities that’s more than three and a half years.

This year, we supported five secondments.

“I was placed at two organisations in Broome; the first, West Kimberley Futures Empowered Communities (WKFEC) who aim to tackle the socioeconomic issues by empowering Aboriginal communities, families and individuals. My brief was to help raise the profile of the organisation, and I developed branding, strategic messaging and worked closely with the Chief Implementation Officer to help align their strategy and vision to the work they do on the ground. The second organisation I was placed with is Aarnja, also a communications-based project which aimed to inspire and inform the Kimberley about the Kimberley Aboriginal Regional Body (KARB) – an idea that has been in the works for over 40 years in the region but through a recent co-design effort by the Commonwealth is now gaining momentum.

There’s a lot of people here wearing many different hats and everyday I learn something new; whether that’s a Yawuru or Bardi word or why saltwater barra is better than freshwater barra. That’s the beauty of Jawun – it’s a mutual sharing of knowledge, skills and stories.”

– RAC 2022 Jawun Secondee

Senior Noongar and Whadjuk Country Traditional Owner Danny Ford facilitating Cultural Awareness Training

RAC Community Volunteering Program

We’re proud to offer our people opportunities to volunteer and give back. Volunteering helps to build community capacity and inspires a stronger sense of belonging and personal wellbeing.

Our Community Volunteering program provides pathways for our people to offer their time and skills toward activities that contribute to our Vision for a safer, sustainable, and connected future for all Western Australians.

We provide tangible opportunities for our people to volunteer to support RAC programs and events, as well as through our partners like Town Team Movement.

Together, our collective efforts greatly benefit the lives of those supported through our program.

Dismantle

Dismantle’s Bike Rescue Program collects and recycles hundreds of rusty old bikes destined for landfill. Bike building is the foundation of their youth engagement program, designed to get young people out of the classroom and onto to the tools, working shoulder-toshoulder with their youth mentors to build confidence and resilience.

Our teams have been volunteering with Dismantle to get the bikes ready for the Bike Rescue Program - by literally dismantling every component of each bike.

“It was such a rewarding experience knowing that we were giving back to the community and also helping to recycle bikes that would have otherwise ended up as landfill.”

Armadale Gosnells Landcare Group

In October, our people took part in a volunteering opportunity to help plant trees with Armadale Gosnells Landcare Group. With support from Volunteering WA, the planting day had a fantastic outcome with 2,000 plants finding a new home.

“It was such a great way to connect to our Sustainable pillar as a team… Great conversations about the little things we can all do to help our environment.”

“It was great to get our hands dirty and get stuck into helping the community, which in turn contributes to RAC’s vision for a more sustainable future for WA”

Our Community Volunteering Program is a great way not only to engage our people but also inspire them to act on our Vision in their own time, and this is fantastic!

Armadale Gosnells Landcare Group volunteering

Beyond the Roads Community Educators

This year, a highly motivated group of eight RAC people supported our Beyond the Roads initiative by delivering engaging presentations to community groups on topics related to road safety, lifestyle and mobility in WA.

Through participating, our Community Educators get a chance to work on their public speaking skills while engaging with and educating our members and the community about our Vision.

As of end-June 2022:

1,075 presentations had been delivered community attendees

Our Community Educator’s thoughts:

“I am passionate about the Program and it is very close to my heart. It enables me to give back to the community. And what better way to connect and contribute with the community than by educating on topics that matter to RAC.”

“This has been my most special work at RAC so far. Our members believe in us and love when we are out and about in the community. One of the participants in my presentation has been an RAC member for 70 years, I was able to personally recognise his loyalty and tenure with RAC. That’s the power of connecting.”

Dynamic Spaces and Places

When we launched our new Purpose, Vision and Mission in 2020, we talked about our exciting future and working together better to achieve this. One of the ways we can do this is by having the right space to do that work in. So, we’re strategically redesigning our workplaces - and that’s what Dynamic Spaces and Places is all about. Shaping our workplaces for the future will help us work together better, connect and collaborate more effectively and deliver greater value to our members.

Phase 1 of the Dynamic Spaces and Places project involved the refurbishment of our RAC Head Office in West Perth. We’re proud to be creating new spaces within our building which are open to our members, including a new member lounge, café and concierge service. Our new exhibition space will showcase interactive displays of our heritage assets, social and community impact initiatives, and member products and services. It will also provide spaces for us to host education sessions and engagement workshops with our members and the community.

Some of the great causes our people are supporting

In addition to our work through the Community Volunteering Program, our people are incredibly generous with their time and money to create a better WA.

Some of these amazing efforts include:

» Fundraising for men’s health each Mo-vember;

» Donating warm winter blankets and sleeping bags for the Perth Homeless Support Group;

» Participating in Loud Shirt Day to show support for children who are deaf or hard of hearing; and

» Fundraising for WA Telethon Speech & Hearing Institute, through which our people, combined with RAC’s commitment to match all donations, raised over $3,800 for the cause.

Our updated head office at West Perth

Cycling by the Swan River

Our future

We’re excited about working together with our members, our people, government, industry, and the WA community as we continue along on the journey towards a safer, sustainable and connected future for Western Australians.

Our road ahead

Some of things we’ll be focusing on in the shorter term include:

» Continuing to build awareness and understanding of our Purpose, Vision, Mission and overall social and community impact;

» Maintaining our policy and government relations activities to advocate for key policy commitments and infrastructure investments (e.g. securing funding to implement the Regional Road Safety Program in full);

» Demonstrating the case for reducing speed limits to accelerate a reduction in the number of people killed and seriously injured on WA roads, including through supporting trials that encourage safer speeds;

» Exploring opportunities that increase member co-design and involvement, including our new member spaces at our Head Office in West Perth, finding opportunities for members to participate in our community volunteering, education and sponsorships, and recognising and rewarding member loyalty;

» Delivering on our community engagement strategy, which will include things like piloting youth engagement placemaking workshops and forums in metropolitan, regional and remote settings, as well as exploring digital engagement platform options;

» Developing a decarbonisation strategy for our organisation and adopting an ambitious net zero target;

» Delivering impactful demonstration projects (e.g. our automated vehicle program) and community-focused initiatives (e.g. Reconnect WA, and Town Team Movement partnership and Connecting Communities Fund); and

» Exploring new and emerging mobility and lifestyle trends, technologies, and solutions to better understand, respond to and plan for the implications and opportunities (e.g. associated with a shift towards electric vehicles). This includes in diversifying and reshaping our member products and services, as well as considerations for our operations.

Spotlight on Sustainable

The RAC Air Health Monitor will form a powerful interactive tool for our members and the WA community to obtain real-time information about air quality. It will provide data and insights to encourage action around policy, investment, and individual behavioural change to address harmful vehicle emissions.

We’ll also be doing a lot of other things in FY23 to help reduce vehicle emissions. Here are just a few examples of actions we’ll be taking to continue to help support the uptake of low and zero emission vehicles:

» We’ll be working with our partners to further enhance the user experience for the RAC Electric Highway®. This includes replacing some charging stations and continuing to work with local governments to transition all stations to green energy;

» We’ll continue to call on Government to address barriers to the uptake of low and zero emission vehicles, and support the expansion of charging infrastructure across WA;

» We will develop an iterative Electric Vehicle ecosystem across our organisation, from supporting members purchasing their first EV to exploring incentives and appropriate rewards for insuring, servicing and financing low and zero emission vehicles;

» Implementing a consistent approach towards transitioning our vehicle fleets to EVs, and exploring the benefits of an EV car share model for our pool vehicles and member use.

Our Aspirational Member Experience

At RAC, our Mission is to deliver great member services and experiences, while inspiring positive community change that makes life better in WA. Member experience extends beyond just great service.

This year, we launched a new Member Experience Strategy which maps how we’ll deliver on our Mission. It’s been co-designed by our people and our members.

The strategy helps keep us focused on our aspirational member experience, allowing us to work together to design seamless, simple, personalised and proactive experiences for our members so that we are ‘leading the way’. Our members will be able to interact with us smoothly across all of our products, services and channels.

RAC CoLAB

This year, we launched the RAC CoLAB, a way to discover opportunities and co-design solutions with our members, our people and the broader community.

So far, RAC CoLAB has clocked over 8,000 member interactions, and engaged with over 150 of our people across our products and services to explore and develop ideas that could create new value for our members and the community.

We’ll continue to inspire and create opportunities for members to engage in design, prototyping and testingand everything in between.

Continuing our member centred journey

Our future depends on creating more value for our members. So, in 2019 we embarked on an ambitious five-year organisation-wide transformation to do just that.

With the help of our members, we identified multiple initiatives that will incorporate our members’ voices into even more of what we do. Some of those initiatives involve creating more value through the services and communications we provide to our members. Some are around enabling our people to work together better so they can in turn deliver more

to members. And some focus on driving positive change in our WA community on behalf of our members. The creation of our first online member community to collect member insights, redesigning our West Perth office to make it more accessible to our members, as well this Social and Community Impact Report are just a few of the things we’ve already done to progress on our journey.

There is much more to come, and we look forward to sharing more of this transformation with you.

Member Centred Program event

Our performance

Safe

The Social Impact Metric was developed in 2018, adopted in 2019, and implemented in 2020 based on the most appropriate and current publicly available data at the time. It will be reviewed as required over the next 10 years to ensure it remains fit for purpose, with new and richer data sources becoming available for example.

» Western Australians feel safe utilising all modes of transport.

» The rate of road deaths and serious injuries in Western Australia is approaching zero.

» Western Australia has safe transport infrastructure.

Safe» New vehicle technology and safety assurance frameworks are protecting occupants and other road users from crashes.

» Road users are taking responsibility for themselves and other road users.

» Road safety is a social, health and economic priority for Western Australia.

» Appropriate speed limits have been implemented and are increasing human survival rates in the event of a crash.

Serious injuries per 100,000 persons

Serious injuries per 100,000 Target

Fatalities per 100,000 persons

Fatalities per 100,000

Our indicators, measures, weightings and targets for the safe impact area are shown in the tables and graphs below.

In 2021, 1,587 people were seriously injured on our roads (equating to a serious injury rate of 57.5 per 100,000 people in the population) and 166 people were killed (equating to a fatality rate of 6.01). By the end of 2025, we want to see the serious injury rate having dropped to 30.1 and the fatality rate to 2.85.

Indicators Measures Weightings Targets Data sources

Reduced serious injuries

Serious injury rate per 100,000 persons

15% 50% reduction by end2025 from a 2020 base

Reduced fatalities Fatality rate per 100,000 persons

25% 50% reduction by end2025 from a 2020 base

Serious injuries = Main Roads WA crash data (annual); Population = ABS. Stat – Quarterly Population Estimates (ERP) – via Cat 3101.0 (quarterly)

Fatalities = Road Safety Commission WA Road Fatalities (quarterly); Population = ABS. Stat – Quarterly Population Estimates (ERP) – via Cat 3101.0 (quarterly)

Think safer roads, vehicles and people, to save lives and serious injuries.

Sustainable

Our indicators, measures, weightings and targets for the sustainable impact area are show in the table and graphs below. Based on the most recently available data, NOx emissions currently sit at 1.16g/km travelled

Sustainable

by car and CO2 emissions at 263.4g/km travelled by car. This is believed to be largely due to the initial decline in travel associated with lockdowns and increased home working due to COVID-19. By 2030, we want to see these emissions reduce to 1.05g/km and 224.8g/km respectively.

Think low emission vehicles and initiatives for cleaner, healthier air. Indicators Measures Weightings Targets Data sources

» Harmful emissions (CO2 NOx, particulates) from passenger vehicles are reduced in line with international benchmarks.

» Proactive initiatives have been implemented to improve air quality.

» Low emission vehicles are widely available, affordable and a popular choice.

» Infrastructure supporting alternative vehicle technology is broadly accessible.

» Western Australians better understand and are able to reduce the life-cycle impacts of owning or operating vehicles.

» A range of fair and effective funding options have delivered a high-quality transport system.

Healthier air NOx emissions per kilometre travelled by car

10% 15% reduction in 2030 from a 2016/17 base (but capped at 10% increase in 2025 from the base)

Fuel sales = Australian Petroleum Statistics (annual); Emission factor = European Environment Agency; VKT = BITRE Australian Infrastructure Statistics, VKT, Car, WA – direct from BITRE (annual)

Cleaner air CO2 emissions per kilometre travelled by car

10% 20% reduction in 2030 from a 2016/17 base (3% in 2025)

CO2 emissions = Australian Greenhouse Gas Inventory (annual, data lag); VKT = BITRE Australian Infrastructure Statistics, VKT, Car, WA – direct from BITRE (annual)

NOx emissions per km (g/km)

N0x emissions per km Target CO2 emissions (g/km) per kilometers travelled by car

CO2 emissions per km

Target

*These

Connected

Our indicators, measures, weightings and targets for the connected impact area are shown in the table and graphs below and on the next page.

For our first of four measures, the most recently available data shows an increase in vehicle kilometres travelled (VKT) per capita from 6,831 in 2019-20 to 7,102 in 2020-21. This is believed to be largely reflective of a rebound effect from the impacts of COVID-19 on travel and movement. By 2030, we want to see a 5% decline from the baseline.

For our second measure, we established our 2020 base score for our Connected Communities Score (62.7).

Think well-planned communities and transport that connect people and places

» Good urban design and wellplanned communities are enabling better access to transport options and enhanced social connectedness.

Connected

» People are seamlessly connected by a flexible range of private, public and shared transport options (e.g. public transport, cycling, walking, car, motorcycling, personal transporters, aviation), infrastructure, services and technology.

» Congestion has been managed to protect the livability and productivity of the State.

» The benefits of digitisation are realised and enhance mobility while protecting personal privacy and data.

» Transport is affordable and accessible.

By 2030, we’re aiming for at least a 5% increase in the calculated score for how connected people feel to and within their community.

Our third and fourth measures relate to transport affordability. Throughout the next ten years, we want any increases in costs of motoring and public transport to remain at or below the rate of inflation, known as the Consumer Price Index (CPI). In 2021, the cost of motoring increased significantly at a rate greater than the increase in overall CPI. Public transport fares remained frozen in 2021.

Indicators Measures Weightings Targets Data sources

Enhanced liveability Vehicle kilometres travelled (VKT) per capita

Extent to which people feel connected to and within their community

10% 5% reduction in 2030 from a 2018 base (0.43% annually)

10% 5% increase in connectedness score from a 2020 baseline

VKT = Australian Infrastructure Statistics, VKT, Car, WA – direct from BITRE (annual); Population = ABS Demographic Stats – Cat 3101.0 (quarterly)

RAC survey providing a composite measure derived from questions exploring the relative importance of, and level of satisfaction with, four dimensions of community connectedness – access to destinations, availability of preferred transport options, sense of community and look and feel of the area (monthly)

Affordable mobility Cost of private motoring

10% Change at or below CPI

Cost of private motoring = ABS Consumer Price Index, Australia Cat 6401.0 – Table 9 (quarterly); CPI = ABS Consumer Price Index, Australian Cat 6401.0 –Tables 1 & 2 (quarterly)

Cost of public transport 10% Change at or below CPI Public transport standard 2-zone cash fare = State Budget Paper no.3, Appendix 8, Table 8.10 (annual); CPI = ABS Consumer Price Index, Australia Cat 6401.0 – Tables 1 & 2 (quarterly)

Vehicle kilometers travelled (VKT) per capita

Extent to which people feel connected to and within their community

Survey results Target

Change in cost of motoring

Private motoring component CPI

change in

Change in cost of public transport Change in Transperth standard 2-zone cash fare % change in

Overall progress towards our 2030 targets

Our composite metric, derived from the above elements, shows that we are currently tracking at ‘Meeting target – low’. Which means we are within range of where we need to be for this reporting period to continue to make good progress towards where we want to be in 2030.

Progress towards 2030 targets:

Target ranges

Not meeting target - high

Not meeting target - moderate

Not meeting target - low Meeting target - low

Meeting target - moderate

Meeting target - high

This is our second Social and Community Impact Report, and we’re committed to developing and expanding how we report on our impact in the years ahead.

For more information on where we stand on issues of importance to creating a safer, sustainable and connected future for Western Australians, visit: https://rac.com.au/about-rac/advocating-change/reports

End notes

1. Data generated using HealthTracks Reporting, by the Epidemiology Branch, WA Department of Health in collaboration with the Cooperative Research Centre for Spatial Information (CRC-SI), March 2021. Accessed at: https://ww2.health.wa.gov.au/Articles/N_R/Population-health-statistics

2. Calculation based on data provided by Main Roads Western Australia. (2022).

3. Australian Bureau of Statistics (2022) Regional population. Accessed at: https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/ population/regional-population/latest-release

4. BITRE, Road trauma Australia, 202 Statistical Summary, Table 1.2; BITRE Hospitalised Injury Statistical Report, August 2021, Table 2. Accessed at: https://www.bitre.gov.au/publications/ongoing/road_deaths_australia_annual_ summaries

5. WA Government (2020). Driving Change: Road Safety Strategy for Western Australia 2020-2030. Accessed at: https://www.wa.gov.au/organisation/road-safety-commission/driving-change-road-safety-strategy-and-action-plan

6. Chow, K., Manners, S. & Meuleners, L. at CMARC. (2017). Risk Factors for Killed and Serious Injury Intersection Crashes in Metropolitan Perth: 2006 - 2015. Accessed at: https://www.wa.gov.au/system/files/2021-08/Stage-1.pdf

7. Candappa, N., Logan, D., Van Nes, N., & Corben, B. (2015). An exploration of alternative intersection designs in the context of Safe System. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 74, 314-323. Accessed at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/ science/article/abs/pii/S0001457514002334?via%3Dihub

8. Australian Government - Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2021, Australian Burden of Disease Study Impact and causes of illness and death in Australia 2018. Accessed at: https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/burden-of-disease/ abds-impact-and-causes-of-illness-and-death-in-aus/summary

9. IEA (2021), Fuel economy in Australia, IEA, Paris. Accessed at: https://www.iea.org/articles/fuel-economy-in-australia

10. Australian Greenhouse Gas Emissions Information System, 2021, National Greenhouse Gas Inventory – UNFCCC classifications. Accessed at https://ageis.climatechange.gov.au/

11. National Transport Commission (2021). Carbon Dioxide Emissions Intensity for New Australian Light Vehicles 2020. Accessed at: https://www.ntc.gov.au/transport-reform/light-vehicle-emissions

12. Stratas Advisers, 2021, Seven Countries Move Up in Top 100 Ranking on Gasoline Sulfur Limits. Accessed at: https:// stratasadvisors.com/Insights/2021/07232021-Top-100-gasoline-sulfur-ranking

OECD Data Air and GHG emissions. Accessed at: https://data.oecd.org/air/air-and-ghg-emissions.htm

Australian Government, 2020. Light vehicle emissions standards for cleaner air, Draft Regulation Impact Statement October 2020. Accessed at: https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/sites/default/files/migrated/vehicles/environment/ forum/files/Vehicle_Noxious_Emissions_RIS.pdf

Australian Bureau of Statistics, Motor Vehicle Census, Australia, released 30 June 2021. Accessed: https://www.abs. gov.au/statistics/industry/ tourism-and-transport/motor-vehicle-census-australia/latest-release

Data provided by Department of Transport Western Australia (2022)

Transport and the Environment (2022), How Clean Are Electric Cars. Accessed at: https://www. transportenvironment.org/discover/how-clean-are-electric-cars/

https://aemo.com.au/energy-systems/electricity/wholesale-electricity-market-wem/data-wem/datadashboard#generation-fuelmix

and Peel@3.5 million”,

at: https://www.wa.gov.au/government/publications/perth-andpeel-35-million-frameworks

of Planning, Lands and Heritage (2020), “Urban Growth Monitor 13”, Accessed at: https://www.wa.gov. au/government/document-collections/land-supply-analysis

Member priorities tracker survey, September 2021. Accessed at: https://rac.com.au/about-rac/advocatingchange/reports/member-priorities-tracker

Australia (2019). “Australian Infrastructure Audit – Urban Transport Crowding and Congestion”. Accessed at: https://www.infrastructureaustralia.gov.au/publications/urban-transport-crowding-and-congestion

residential activity.

of 2016

(November 2021). “Transport Affordability Index”. Accessed at: https://www.aaa.asn.au/pages/affordability/

ABS (2017). Media Release, 23 October 2017, ’More than two in three drive to work, Census reveals‘, Accessed at: https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mediareleasesbyreleasedate/7DD5DC715B608612CA2581BF001F8404

Department of Transport (2021). The declining rate of walking and cycling to school in Perth. Accessed at: https:// www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mediareleasesbyreleasedate/7DD5DC715B608612CA2581BF001F8404

30. RAC Member priorities tracker survey, November 2021. Accessed at: https://rac.com.au/about-rac/advocatingchange/reports/member-priorities-tracker

31. Hussain, Q., Feng, H., Brijs, T., Grzebieta, R. & Olivier, J. (2018). A systematic review and meta-analysis of impact speed and probability of pedestrian fatality. Accessed at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/accident-analysis-andprevention/vol/129/suppl/C

32. Main Roads WA (2022) Low Cost Urban Road Safety Program – Framework. Accessed at: https://www.mainroads. wa.gov.au/technical-commercial/local-government-funding/road-safety-programs/

33. Calculated based on an average cost per fatality of $7.8 million, and $310,094 per serious injury (see Litchfield, 2017), and KSI data supplied by Main Roads WA.

34. Ford D, Mills B, Ciccone N, Beatty S. Does Direct Helicopter Retrieval Improve Survival of Severely Injured Trauma Patients From Rural Western Australia. Air Medical Journal 39 (2020) 183-188.

35. Inattention is difficult to identify after a crash has occurred, and therefore is often underreported as a contributing factor. Tragically, inattention is likely to have impacted the lives of many more.

36. Dingus, T. A., Guo, F., Lee, S., Antin, J. F., Perez, M., Buchanan-King, M., & Hankey, J. (2016). Driver crash risk factors and prevalence evaluation using naturalistic driving data. Accessed at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26903657/

37. RAC. (2019). Mobile phone distraction survey. Accessed at: https://rac.com.au/about-rac/advocating-change/reports

38. Transport and Environment (2018), Roll-out of public EV charging infrastructure in the EU Is the chicken and egg dilemma resolved? Accessed at: https://www.transportenvironment.org/discover/roll-out-public-ev-charginginfrastructure-eu/

39. NSW Environmental protection agency. About air pollution. Accessed at: https://www.epa.nsw.gov.au/yourenvironment/air/air-nsw-overview/about-air-pollution