1. Experts aim to halve road toll in a decade
Emily Bourke reported this story on Friday, February 11, 2011 Listen to MP3 of this story ( minutes)
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Alternate WMA version MP3 download
The National Road Safety Council has criticised elements of the automotive industry for encouraging speeding and dangerous driving. At the same time the council has said it plans to halve the road toll over the next 10 years. It's demanding a huge investment in addressing road black-spots.
TONY EASTLEY: Australia's peak body on road safety is calling for a massive re-think on the how to cut the death and injury rates from road crashes.The National Road Safety Council has devised a range of measures to halve the road toll over the next decade.The council says governments at all levels should double investment in black-spot programs and it's also criticised elements of the automotive industry for encouraging speeding and dangerous driving. Here's Emily Bourke.
EMILY BOURKE: Road trauma is a $27 billion problem annually and one that the National Road Safety Council says requires a radical new action plan. The council's Roger Cook says Australia's target to reduce road casualties should be just as ambitious as Europe's.
ROGER COOK: And theirs is a 50 per cent reduction on a figure that's already lower than ours. Their fatality rate is less than Australia's per 100,000 people. So we're saying there is absolutely no reason why Australia shouldn't also be adopting a 50 per cent target which we feel can be achieved if all of the strategies are adopted.
EMILY BOURKE: The first National Road Safety Strategy came into force in the year 2000 and expired at the end of last year.Roger Cook says it's time to consider road safety in the same way as workplace safety.
ROGER COOK: If there is a work fatality or a serious injury then someone at the end of the day is accountable for that and it's treated as a very, very serious matter whereas with a road accident people tend to be accepting the fact that yes, there will be 1500-odd people killed a year and 30,000 seriously injured.
EMILY BOURKE: And he says governments must start owning the problem and allocating more to fixing it.
ROGER COOK: Well at the moment only about 5 per cent of the total road funding goes towards black-spot and road safety. If we could double it then we are going to make a major difference.
EMILY BOURKE: And he argues the car industry itself also needs some modification.
ROGER COOK: You really have to question why speedos, speedometers in cars go up to 250 or thereabouts when the speed limit in the country, the maximum speed limit in the country is 110. So there is feeling from some of the research that's being done that having that higher figure on the speedo tempts some people to actually utilise speeds well in excess of the legal limits.EMILY BOURKE: And that also includes tougher design regulations for light commercial vehicles. ROGER COOK: Particularly some of the big four wheel drive utilities which you think would be pretty safe are not coming through the safety ratings all that well. And then the delivery vans, some of the delivery vans and so on of which you know there are so many on the road also don't meet very stringent requirements so, and the people who are driving them are entitled to that degree of protection.
EMILY BOURKE: And Roger Cook says bans should apply to some imported cars that aren't up to Australia's safety standards.
ROGER COOK: There are some vehicles starting to come into the country that really have very poor safety ratings and that's going to set us back in terms of the achievements we've made over the last 10 years or so. So we think until those cars can achieve the safety ratings that are necessary and that have now been achieved by other manufacturers, then they shouldn't be allowed into the country.EMILY BOURKE: The Road Safety Council's recommendations will be sent to all transport ministers through the Australian Transport Council. That council is meeting in May to devise the next 10 year road safety strategy.
TONY EASTLEY: Emily Bourke reporting.
2. P-plater's death takes road toll to 35
Updated December 30, 2011
Updated December 30, 2011
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Related Story: Tasmania records its first road fatality:
Related Story: Tasmania records its first road fatality:
Related Story: Teen's death among national road toll of 26
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-28/nsw-toll-rises-with-wheelchair-bound-boys-death/3750036
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-28/nsw-toll-rises-with-wheelchair-bound-boys-death/3750036
The national holiday road toll has risen to 35, with the death of a P-plater in Sydney's south-west.
Police say the man in his late teens or early 20s smashed his car into a tree at Denham Court just after 5:00pm AEDT.
The national holiday road toll is well up on the same period last year.
New South Wales has recorded the highest number of deaths with 13 people dying on the state's roads during the holiday period.
Queensland's toll rose to eight after two men died in separate accidents in the state's south-east this morning.
There have been six deaths in Victoria, four in Western Australia, two in South Australia, one in the Northern Territory and none in the ACT.
Tasmania has recorded its first road fatality, with a motorcyclist dying when his bike collided with a car in the state's north-west.
Police say the man in his late teens or early 20s smashed his car into a tree at Denham Court just after 5:00pm AEDT.
The national holiday road toll is well up on the same period last year.
New South Wales has recorded the highest number of deaths with 13 people dying on the state's roads during the holiday period.
Queensland's toll rose to eight after two men died in separate accidents in the state's south-east this morning.
There have been six deaths in Victoria, four in Western Australia, two in South Australia, one in the Northern Territory and none in the ACT.
Tasmania has recorded its first road fatality, with a motorcyclist dying when his bike collided with a car in the state's north-west.
3. Action called for on alarming regional road toll
Updated November 21, 2011
Updated November 21, 2011
The RAC is urging the State Government to target road safety in regional Western Australia, after revelations the road toll is similar to that of a developing nation.
The Police Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan told an RAC forum in Bunbury the serious and fatal crash rate in regional WA is more than five times higher than in Perth.
That puts it in line with countries such as Uganda and Thailand.
The RAC's Matt Brown says the Government needs to do all it can to minimise the number of fatal crashes, especially in the South West.
"What we're asking for is the Government to take a look at the road network down there," he said.
"Figure out what the specific road safety problems are, and then target a solution towards them; that can be things like wire rope barriers, extending the shoulders of the roads, putting in audible edge lines so that when drivers doze off, they're woken up."
Mr Brown says the South West is home to the highest number of fatalities and injuries in regional WA and should be targetted.
"We need to take a big picture approach to it, we need individual motorists to take responsibility for their own actions, we need Government to invest some money in the road network in the South West because of the economic activity down there and because of the growing population," he said.
Mr O'Callaghan says road safety messages have failed to get through to drivers who are more likely to speed and avoid wearing seatbelts on isolated country roads.
The Police Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan told an RAC forum in Bunbury the serious and fatal crash rate in regional WA is more than five times higher than in Perth.
That puts it in line with countries such as Uganda and Thailand.
The RAC's Matt Brown says the Government needs to do all it can to minimise the number of fatal crashes, especially in the South West.
"What we're asking for is the Government to take a look at the road network down there," he said.
"Figure out what the specific road safety problems are, and then target a solution towards them; that can be things like wire rope barriers, extending the shoulders of the roads, putting in audible edge lines so that when drivers doze off, they're woken up."
Mr Brown says the South West is home to the highest number of fatalities and injuries in regional WA and should be targetted.
"We need to take a big picture approach to it, we need individual motorists to take responsibility for their own actions, we need Government to invest some money in the road network in the South West because of the economic activity down there and because of the growing population," he said.
Mr O'Callaghan says road safety messages have failed to get through to drivers who are more likely to speed and avoid wearing seatbelts on isolated country roads.
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