La Trobe University has floated the Bendigo-based hub idea and is preparing to lobby decision makers to back a hub costing roughly $5 million.

La Trobe Rural Health School head Pamela Snow said the hub will “most definitely” be something the university will lobby for in the lead up to the next federal election.

The proposal had the support of federal member for Bendigo Lisa Chesters, who planned to raise the matter with state and federal ministers.

It also had the support of Bendigo Health, which was among a network of regional organisations with expertise in regional trauma.

Bendigo Health’s director of research and innovation Angela Crombie said her organisation already closely partnered with the university for research and was well-versed in dealing with the aftermath of crashes on country roads and their long-term consequences.

“It’s the ongoing impacts of trauma, particularly for young males who have acquired brain injuries,” Dr Crombie said.

“You can imagine their lives. Their friends drop off, their behaviors change. It’s very traumatic.”

Trauma’s impact was felt across the hospital’s emergency department, acute wards and rehabilitation service.

“They (Bendigo Health staff) all do a great job but we would prefer not to have to deal with such a significant amount of road trauma victims,” Dr Crombie said.

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Much of the existing research into road trauma had been done in metropolitan areas, she said. While that research had had some impact on long term road tolls, it had not been strong enough.

“Road trauma in Melbourne is mainly pedestrian, whereas in regional areas its single cars,” Dr Crombie said.

“It’s a different context for road accidents. La Trobe’s design is really looking at co-design with the community in a real place-based approach.”

City of Greater Bendigo CEO Craig Niemann said his and other councils would benefit from research at the hub.

The council was keen to be part of any pilot studies identifying where road trauma could be minimised, with an average of seven people dying on roads in the greater Bendigo region each year.

“We hold a lot of road data, we have road management plan, we’ve got intervention levels around maintenance of roads and traffic data,” he said.

“So we think we can share a lot of information with La Trobe, potentially.”

Professor Snow said decisions about when the hub would launch depended on government funding and on other stakeholders.

“It would be terrific to see it getting off the ground sometime in 2019, but certainly by 2020,” she said.

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