La Trobe University has proposed the establishment of a Rural Road Trauma Research Hub as part of a submission to a Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry.
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The inquiry into the increase in Victoria's Road Toll was announced late last year and invited community input to help find solutions for the steep rise in road deaths last year where 263 lives were lost on the state's roads.
La Trobe's submission highlights the need for different approaches in regional and metropolitan areas.
"La Trobe proposes the establishment of a Rural Road Trauma Research Hub that would focus on the holistic elements that are leading to, and could prevent, rural road trauma," it reads.
"La Trobe's Bendigo campus, with its wide-ranging research expertise and close community connections would be the ideal place for the location of this research hub."
Head of La Trobe's Bendigo campus Rob Stephenson said the university has expertise that could assist in finding new solutions to help reduce the road toll.
"We know from the horrendous figures last year that (the issue) is certainly not getting any better. It's a problem that still needs addressing," Mr Stephenson said.
"We wouldn't be doing our job if we weren't contributing to this discussion.
"It appears things will not be getting better unless we do something different. So we're suggesting to parliament and showing our intent to work with government and the inquiry on a constructive new solution."
The concept of the Rural Road Trauma Research Hub was announced in 2018.
The hub would combine research expertise in rural health, psychology, pharmacy, engineering, planning, education and law from across La Trobe's Bendigo campus to help reduce the number of people who die or are seriously injured on rural roads each year.
La Trobe University hoped funding would come from a Labor pledge ahead of the 2019 federal election.
Labor lost last year's federal election and the concept has laid dormant since then.
"This is not a plea for money," Mr Stephenson said. "(La Trobe) has expertise in this area. Engineering students and academics are working on projects and locally (we submitted) to the City of Greater Bendigo in relation to the separated cycle path being constructed in Ellis Street.
"There are a lot of ways in which we do contribute. It's just not joined up, that's concept of the hub - there's expertise in a lot of areas, this is an opportunity to bring it together.
"(It's a matter of) here's this wicked problem, let's bring all this thinking to that problem. (The hub) remains a concept in that sense but the expertise is being applied in different ways."
According to the TAC website 140 people died on rural roads last year compared to 123 in metropolitan areas.
Mr Stephenson said the statistics showed it was an regional problem.
"It seems to us, the place to address regional issues is in regional areas," he said.
"We have close contacts here and the ability to consult locally. From our perspective, it is an opportunity to draw attention to the thought that there are lots of skills in regional campuses."