Name: Judith Charlton
Title: Professor Emerita, Monash University Accident Research Centre
Affiliation: Monash University
Dr Judith Charlton is Professor Emerita at Monash University and former Director of the Monash University Accident Research Centre (MUARC) (2015-2021), a world leading centre for safety and injury prevention research, graduate education and training.
Jude is the current Independent Chair of the National Road Safety Partnership Program which champions positive road safety culture in the workplace.
In 2021, Jude was awarded an AM for significant service to road safety and injury prevention. She holds a B Ed from the University of Western Australia and a MSc and PhD from the University of Waterloo, Canada.
Jude has actively promoted and expanded MUARC’s suite of professional training programs, including its flagship Road Safety Management Leadership Program which has supported hundreds of senior leaders in agencies across more than 30 jurisdictions towards achieving zero deaths and serious injuries on the world’s roads.
Jude has led a sustained program of research on older people’s safe mobility, child safety in cars and medical fitness to drive in the Behavioural Science for Transport Safety research team at MUARC. The Team is recognized as the leading research group in Australia on the safety of older and impaired drivers, pedestrians, cyclists and child passengers. Their research has been influential in shaping policy and practice in the management of safe mobility of vulnerable road users in Australia and internationally.
Jude manages several international collaborations including the Ozcandrive older driver cohort study conducted in collaboration with the Canadian-led project, Candrive – the first longitudinal study to track real-world driving and health of older Australians.
Jude’s research on safe mobility includes projects focusing on individuals with vision impairment, Traumatic Brain Injury and Parkinson’s Disease. These projects examine the role of vision, cognitive and physical functions in driving using state of the art driving simulators, instrumented vehicles and naturalistic driving methods.
Jude has led an international collaboration with colleagues at Children’s Hospital Philadelphia, Chalmers University, Autoliv and Volvo in Sweden, and the University of Michigan Transportation Institute, to study child restraint use and child-related driver distraction. The project pioneered innovative methods to observe real-world experiences of drivers and child passengers.
Since joining MUARC in 2000, Jude has authored over 200 publications on road safety issues. She is engaged in many national and international research activities, collaborating with government bodies, health practitioners, the motor vehicle industry and road safety academics in Europe and North America. Jude is an expert advisor on two EU projects iDREAMS and Drive2theFuture, focusing on future transport challenges and solutions. She has served on many professional and community committees and boards, including the Technical Working Group for NHMRC National Best Practice Guidelines on the safe restraint of children in cars; the Driveway Safety Working Group, Office of the Child Safety Commissioner; the Australasian College of Road Safety’s Journal of Road Safety Editorial Board and its Victorian Chapter, the US Transportation Research Board (TRB) subcommittee on Driver Medical Review, and was a Director of BrainLink, a community service initiative for people with brain impairment from trauma and disease.
B Ed, University of Western Australia 1974
M Sc, University of Waterloo Canada 1981
PhD, University of Waterloo Canada 1987
US Transportation Research Board (TRB) Driver Medical Review Committee;
Technical Working Group, NHMRC ‘National Best Practice Guidelines on the safe restraint of children travelling in cars’
Chair, Naturalistic Driving Research Symposium Organising Committee and Scientific Committee
International Conference on Transport and Health Scientific Committee
Driving Assessment 2019 Scientific Review Committee
US Transportation Research Board (TRB) Sub-Committee, Ageing, Gender and Transportation [ANB60 (1)]
US Transportation Research Board (TRB) Sub-Committee, Driver Medical Review [ANB60 (2)]
ISO Task Force on Naturalistic Driving Studies (ISO TC22 SC39 WG8).
Director of BrainLink (A community service initiative for people with brain injury)
Monash University Researcher Profile