A community-based parent and learner driver information program and a bumper system designed to stop passenger cars going under trucks are among the host of nominations for this year's Achievement in Automotive Safety Awards.

The awards, sponsored by Windscreens O'Brien and due to be announced in Melbourne on November 17, are designed to recognise achievements in Australian automotive safety.

This year the Awards again feature two categories - the Industry Award and the Community Award.

Scania Australia has entered its unique underrun protection system in the Industry Award category.

The system is a standard feature on Scania's new 4-Series trucks, released into Australia earlier this year.

Scania Australia Marketing Manager, Graham Burge, said a number of safety features, including underrun protection, were designed as integral to the 4-Series.

"Head-on accidents that involve passenger vehicles and trucks can result in the occupants of the passenger vehicles being seriously injured or killed," Mr Burge said.

This is because the bumper of the truck is so high, and the vehicle's first point of contact with the truck is usually the car's windscreen.

"We've effectively lowered our bumper bar so that it meets a passenger vehicle's bumper bar. This allows the vehicle to do what it was designed to do in a frontal impact - in other words, crumple or absorb the energy in some form. This significantly reduces potential road trauma."

A series of parent and learner driver information forums held across the Victorian region of Gippsland earlier this year has been entered into the Community Award category.

The forums were conducted in Moe, Morwell and Traralgon, and in east Gippsland, attracting between 80 and 120 people at each evening.

Each forum was addressed by driver education specialists, police, and a parent who had lost a child in a road accident

"The aim of each forum was to give learners and young people about to get their permits an understanding of the importance of getting adequate driving experience before they get their licence," said Latrobe Shire Youth Services Manager, Susan Lloyd.

"It was equally important to get parents along because, in many cases, they are the ones who are teaching their children to drive."

Windscreens O'Brien General manager, Stan Robertson, said the quality and scope of entries for the 1997 awards confirmed that the industry and the community had a far greater appreciation of road and vehicle safety issues.

"It's been encouraging to trace an increasing regard for safety since the inception of the awards in 1992," he said.

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