Dr Lyndel Bates

Biography

Dr Lyndel Bates joined the Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety - Queensland (CARRS-Q) as a Lecturer in 2013. Dr Bates has research and teaching interests predominantly in road safety and traffic law enforcement, work integrated learning and translating research into policy. She has worked in senior management and research roles in the public sector for more than ten years. In 2012, she completed her PhD with CARRS-Q examining the Graduated Driver Licensing systems in two Australian states (Queensland and New South Wales). The program of research involved surveys of learner and provisional drivers, as well the supervisors of learner drivers, in both metropolitan and regional areas of the states. The research provided new insights into how licensing systems do influence the behaviour of learner and provisional drivers, particularly through mandating supervised practice, requiring the use of log books and enabling police enforcement. The research has also provided important benchmark information for evaluating future safety initiatives for new drivers.

For over 10 years Dr Bates worked with the Queensland Parliamentary Service. While working for the Queensland Parliamentary Service, she was Research Director for a number of parliamentary committees with responsibility for road safety and transport issues (including the Travelsafe Committee, Economic Development Committee and the Transport and Local Government Committee). Her parliamentary experience provided her with unique skills in, and an understanding of, the translation of research into policy. Dr Bates has worked as a Research Fellow with the Policing and Security team at the University of Queensland’s Institute for Social Science Research, and as a Lecturer in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Griffith University.