Profiling Indigenous non-Indigenous road trauma in rural and remote North Queensland : it's not all black and white

摘要

The research examined the individual and collective influence of ‘Indigenous status’ and ‘remoteness’ on road crash profiles. Interviews with 229 crash patients recruited through health facilities in North Queensland showed that involvement of unsafe behaviours in crashes increased with remoteness, and were more marked among Indigenous patients (proximal causation). Themes identified as influencing behaviour included social acceptance of risk (‘rural way of life’), bravado among young males and feelings of hopelessness among the Indigenous sample (distal causation). Using this knowledge, recommendations are provided under the ‘Safe System’ framework with a particular focus on improving Indigenous program development and delivery.