Indigenous Road Safety Academy

🚗The Hidden Risks of Unsealed Roads🚗

For many Australians, driving means travelling on sealed highways and suburban streets. For many workers across remote Australia, however, unsealed roads are simply part of everyday life. Whether travelling between communities, undertaking ranger activities, maintaining infrastructure, delivering services or supporting cultural and land management programs, thousands of workers regularly drive on gravel, dirt and corrugated roads.

These roads present unique hazards that are often underestimated.

Unlike sealed roads, unsealed surfaces can change dramatically from one kilometre to the next. Corrugations, loose gravel, bulldust, washouts, soft shoulders, livestock, wildlife and sudden changes in road conditions can significantly affect vehicle handling and stopping distances.

One of the greatest dangers is the loss of control that can occur when drivers react instinctively rather than appropriately. A sudden swerve, over-correction or inappropriate braking manoeuvre on loose surfaces can quickly lead to a rollover, particularly in four-wheel drives, utility vehicles and vehicles carrying equipment or passengers.

Research and experience across remote Australia consistently demonstrate that rollover incidents are among the most serious vehicle-related workplace events. The consequences can be devastating, particularly where seatbelts are not worn, vehicles are heavily loaded, or emergency assistance is hours away.

Driving safely on unsealed roads requires specific knowledge and skills. Drivers need to understand how road surfaces affect traction, how speed influences vehicle stability, how to recognise changing road conditions and how to respond safely when things go wrong.

Importantly, experience alone should never be confused with competency. Many workers may have driven on dirt roads for years without ever receiving formal instruction on hazard recognition, vehicle dynamics, fatigue management or rollover prevention. Organisations cannot assume that holding a driver's licence automatically means a person possesses the skills required for remote-area driving. This is why education, awareness and competency development are critical components of workplace safety.

Every worker deserves the knowledge and confidence to make safer decisions behind the wheel. Every organisation has a responsibility to ensure that those who drive for work understand the risks associated with the environments in which they operate.

Because on an unsealed road, a small mistake can have life-changing consequences.

🤝To enhance the IRSA app’s content and provide users with valuable animations and resources on safe driving on unsealed roads, we are seeking corporate sponsors. By partnering with IRSA, you can contribute to a safer driving experience for all. Contact us today to discuss sponsorship opportunities at [email protected]

Every workplace vehicle journey carries risk, especially on remote and unsealed roads.

That's why at IRSA, we understand the importance of driver education, safe work systems and practical strategies for safer driving especially in rural and remote regions.

📱 Read the full article now in the IRSA App, including our **Top 5 Tips for Driving on Unsealed Roads**.

At IRSA, we believe road safety education saves lives, strengthens communities and helps organisations meet their duty of care obligations.

🤝 To enhance the IRSA app’s content and provide users with valuable animations and resources on safe driving on unsealed roads, we are seeking corporate sponsors. By partnering with IRSA, you can contribute to a safer driving experience for all. Contact us today to discuss sponsorship opportunities at [email protected]

NT WorkSafe has charged a Central Australian Aboriginal corporation in relation to two rollover incidents on unsealed roads that led to injuries for two workers and the death of a third, with the corporation facing a combined maximum penalty of $4.5 million if found guilty of all charges.

FULL STORY : https://ntindependent.com.au/aboriginal-corporation-charged-for-vehicle-rollover-injuries-death-of-worker/

📣 Mt Isa we're coming to you!

Mithangkaya Nguli YPA Indigenous Corporation is hosting a FREE Community Yarn Session on Tuesday 23rd June at 10am and we want YOU there.

Join IRSA founder Martina Hazelhoff to yarn about how we can roll out the IRSA DriveAbout program in your school or organisation and keep our mob safer on the roads.

📅 Tuesday 23rd June @ 10am
📍 MNYPA HQ, 11/13 Fourth Avenue, Parkside
✅ FREE — all welcome

If you're a teacher, work with youth, run a community org or work in government — this one's for you. Let's come together and make it happen.

RSVP @ [email protected]

Champion on and off the field. 🏏

Huge congratulations to D'Arcy Short Proud Mitakoodi man, Adelaide Strikers star, and IRSA Ambassador, who helped lead Western Australia to victory in the 2026 National Indigenous Cricket Championships!

Keep an eye out for that bat too — D'Arcy's sporting a proud IRSA sticker front and centre. 🙌

D'Arcy is the kind of leader who shows up fully. He brings pride, purpose, and a genuine commitment to his community in everything he does. His success on the cricket field is inspiring, but what really matters is the example he sets off it. D'Arcy understands that leadership isn't about the spotlight, it's about showing up for your mob, using your voice to make a difference, and walking the walk.

As an IRSA Ambassador, D'Arcy is helping us build safer roads and futures for young Aboriginal people. He knows that when you're all in - whether it's sport, education, or community - that's when real change happens.

Well done, champ! 🔥

What makes the difference between a close call and a crash? Seeing it coming.

This , we're sharing a skill that saves lives: observational awareness. Because staying safe on the road starts with spotting the danger before it becomes dangerous.

IRSA's DriveAbout animations bring road safety and rules to life. Our modules break down hazard recognition and decision-making in real time. Our hands-on practice makes it stick.

Animation + modules + real-world scenarios = young people who see safer, drive smarter, come home.

This , we're sharing education that works. Built for confidence. Built for observation. Built to keep our mob safe.

We're ALL IN. 🎯

At IRSA, reconciliation isn't something we talk about once a year. It's how we show up every single day, walking alongside communities, listening to mob, and building solutions that actually work.

This we're reminded: reconciliation won't happen by itself, and it won't happen without all of us stepping away from the sidelines and taking real action.

We're ALL IN on:
🔴 Education delivered in language, on Country
🔴 Partnerships grounded in trust, not tokenism
🔴 Road safety as a pathway to independence and opportunity

But we can't do this alone. If your organisation is ready to go ALL IN - to embed culturally grounded solutions into your work, to listen to community, to stay committed for the long haul - let's talk.

Because real change happens when we all step up.
No spectators. No shortcuts. Just commitment.

At IRSA, we're taking the pledge this

For years, we've watched road safety education treated as a one-size-fits-all system. At IRSA, we're continuing to disrupt that. We pledge to keep empowering our communities with road safety education that's delivered :

✅ In language
✅ On Country
✅ Delivered with respect
✅ Built for how our mob learn

Will you stand with us? Take the pledge today:
https://roadsafetyweek.com.au/

🎬 The IRSA team wrapped up filming today for a redesign of our schools outreach program and we couldn't be more proud of what's ahead.

As a womenled team, we do it all. Content development. Filming. Editing. Curriculum design. All in-house, all with one goal: delivering road safety education that's culturally grounded, language-driven, and fit for purpose in remote and regional Australia.

We're not just creating resources, we're creating pathways. For young people to access their licences. For educators to teach with confidence. For communities to stay safer on Country.

This redesign represents the next evolution of how we support schools and youth. From concept to camera to community, this is what grassroots innovation looks like. And we're just getting started.

Stay tuned. 🚗💨

Road safety education often shows up as something done to communities — not with them.

At IRSA, we do it differently.

We don't turn up for photos. We turn up for people.
We yarn with elders, learn from community, and build trust before we build programs.

This we celebrate the richness of Australia's First Nations cultures and our commitment to road safety education that speaks in language, on Country, and from the heart.

Because when a kid hears the road rules explained in their mother tongue for the first time, everything changes.