The Ottawa Charter

The Ottawa charter are five areas of health promotion that can be applied to achieve positive health outcomes. The charter recognises the need for developing personal skills, creating supportive environments, strengthening community action, reorientating health services, and building healthy public policy. These areas are interdependent and contribute towards good health for all individuals and the broader community.

The first principle of the Ottawa Charter is building public health policy. This means that health outcomes must be a priority for all levels of government. Government must consider the needs of individuals and groups, and identify the effects changes to law may have on them. This principle is significant in achieving positive

This means maintaining an environment which recognises the benefits a healthy lifestyle offers not only to the individual but the broader community. There is a strong link between an individuals health and their environment, meaning an individuals health is somewhat reliant on their environment. Supportive environments are significant in improving road safety as a transport network which protects its users will empower its drivers to drive safely, respect others and the roads. With the sheer amounts of youth road fatalities, campaign “Speeding, no one thinks big of you” (2007) was created to target young male drivers on provisional licenses, who commonly speed to impress passengers. It was successful in reducing the masculinity associated with speeding among the provisional drivers, and the number of youth speeding fatalities was halved. The construction of cycle ways which separate cyclists from traffic proved successful in reducing accidents on the roads and encouraged new cyclists, which has seen improvement in congestion at peak

This means communities are encouraged to be actively involved in setting priorities, making decisions, planning strategies and implementing them to improve health outcomes. This is significant because a health active community will place priority on the health outcomes of individuals. Strengthening action within young drivers was seen on a large scale in 2009 when 11,000 students attended a forum, organised by NRMA, held by industry professionals, which explored the consequences of risk taking behaviours such as the use of mobiles and excessive speeding when driving. By education these young people and encouraging them into spreading awareness about road safety, the roads are safer and individuals feel connected. Driving for extended amounts of time takes a toll on body functions and senses. Community based driver reviver stations offer free food along with basic facilities at key points along highways to combat driver fatigue accidents, which account for 30% of severe rural accidents. This has been very successful and over one million travellers pass through these stations