MEDIA RELEASE
RAC has released a new children’s storybook which confronts road safety issues that occur nearly every day in the Wheatbelt.
Written and designed by Perth teacher and artist, Sean Avery, ‘My Family, The Elephant and Me’ follows a Wheatbelt family on a road trip and has a central message at its heart; ‘we travel safe or not at all’.
The book will be delivered free of charge to all primary school students across the Wheatbelt over the next six months.
RAC General Manager Corporate Affairs, Will Golsby, said the storybook was the next phase of RAC’s Elephant in the Wheatbelt campaign, a regional road safety initiative aimed at raising awareness of the Wheatbelt’s poor road safety record.
“The Elephant in the Wheatbelt project started a long-overdue discussion about the devastating impacts of road trauma and we want to make sure it remains a continued reminder of road safety,” Mr Golsby said.
“Whether around the dinner table, at a backyard BBQ, or during the weekly shop, our hope is this book will inspire important conversations about road safety and will sit firmly in the hearts and minds of Wheatbelt residents for generations to come.”
Coinciding with the book deliveries, and following strong community interest, RAC has also commissioned six artists to paint unique elephant murals in towns across the region.
“We hope these storybooks and mural installations will help spread the elephant’s message, because there is an elephant in everyone’s community and people of every age have the power to help improve road safety in their region.”
-ends-
Media Contact: Rhys Heron 0401 703 719 or media@rac.com.au
BACKGROUNDER
About the Elephant in the Wheatbelt campaign
- The Elephant in the Wheatbelt, launched in 2014, is a road safety campaign which aims to highlight the regions unacceptable road safety record, encourage residents to take ownership of it, change attitudes, and help reduce fatalities in the area.
- RAC has invested significant funding and resources into this campaign, and is working closely with the Wheatbelt community, road safety organisations, and the State Government to reduce road fatalities in the region.
- The Elephant is a life-sized sculpture made out of seven wrecked cars. It symbolises the ‘elephant in the room’ and the silence that surrounds road trauma in the region.
2015:
- In 2015 the Elephant was placed at a number of Wheatbelt towns, unbranded and unannounced.
- Later in the year, The Elephant visited events, shows and WA landmarks, including Parliament House, to start a conversation with Wheatbelt residents about road safety and how it affects their community.
2016:
- In 2016, the second phase of the campaign, ‘it’s my Elephant’, launched.
- This phase encouraged residents to take ownership of road safety issues in their community by featuring a number of local residents who were inspired to take action in their community.
- During 2016, The Elephant continued to tour the Wheatbelt, targeting schools, community events and shows.
About the storybook (‘My Family the Elephant and Me’) and murals:
- The book will be delivered over the course of the next six months, coinciding with the installation of six unique art murals across Wheatbelt towns.
- Wheatbelt residents will also be able to obtain a copy of the book from their local Community Resource Centre.
- At the end of 2017, and over an eight week submission period, all towns in the Wheatbelt were invited to apply for their own mural.
Regional WA’s poor road safety record:
- The Wheatbelt is home to over 135,000 people and is one of nine regions in Western Australia.
- 20 people were killed on Wheatbelt roads in 2017 (source: WA Road Safety Commission)
- 91 people were killed on WA’s regional roads in 2017 (source: WA Road Safety Commission)
- Fatalities and serious injuries in regional WA remain unacceptably high, with road-users being five times more likely to be killed on regional roads.
- Less than 20% of the State’s population reside in regional communities, yet in 2017 these areas experienced more than half of all road fatalities.
