Organ Move To Identify Drivers
The Age
Monday November 15, 1999
Australia's transport ministers have agreed to support a move for drivers willing to be organ donors to be identified on their licences and on a national vehicle register.
The Australian Transport Council, made up of federal, state and territory transport ministers, agreed in principle to find drivers who were willing to identify themselves as organ donors on their driving licences and on the National Exchange of Vehicle and Driver Information System.
The ministers came to the agreement at a meeting of the Australian Transport Council in Perth last Friday. Victoria's Transport Minister, Mr Peter Batchelor, was unable to attend.
The council also agreed to set up a National Transport Secretariat to advise it on transport issues ``so that it can best tackle cross-modal, cross-jurisdictional and strategic issues of national significance".
According to the council, the national economy would be boosted by more than $14billion if implementation of Intelligent Transport Systems technology were accelerated. ITS, the application of information technology to transport operations, aims to reduce costs, improve safety and maximise infrastructure capacity.
``Estimates suggest Australia could gain benefits worth a minimum $14.5billion (net present value to 2012) from accelerated use of ITS," the council's communique from the meeting says.
Key initiatives of the national strategy include an assessment of the greenhouse benefits of existing ITS, ITS trials to improve safety on rural roads and in high-risk travel, measures to foster a competitive, Australian-based ITS industry and a focus on coordinating ITS systems.
© 1999 The Age
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