The holiday road toll
The road toll over the recent Christmas/New Year holiday period was one of Australia’s lowest in a decade. When the holiday period officially ended the toll was at 46, far below the 62 and 78 in the preceding years.
Victoria fared the worst with 17 deaths and WA recorded 11. There was a huge improvement in NSW where eight fatalities were recorded, compared to the 19 last year.
But, with the ideal road toll being zero, more can of course be done.
Heavy penalties apply to those caught drink driving, including immediate suspension of driver’s licence and potential jail terms.
Driver fatigue is a well known and heavily advertised factor of safety on long drives. The RTA provides driver reviver sites along major highways and uses billboards along these roads warning of the danger of driving more than 2 hours without a break.
Speeding is another factor that contributes to crashes. Again we have been told about the dangers of speeding whether it be by advertising, doubling demerit points, increasing the number of police patrols on the road and showing what the results of speeding can do to drivers and their families.
Given that the road toll has dropped, it could be assumed that advertising and public education campaigns, billboards and the increased penalties are working to make our roads safer.
However, lives are still being lost on our roads. What else can we do to reduce the number of crashes causing injury and death during the holiday period?
February 6th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
I can’t believe that people are only out there to critise and comment on issues that are a problem - fair enough I guess. But when a problem is on it’s way to being solved or decreasing in impact there is no mention from the public.
I would like to say thank you to the Authorities keep on doing what you are doing whether be education or more billboards regarding holiday road tolls…Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!
February 14th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
The one thing people and politicians have to realize, is that people will die while driving. It can’t be helped. Having double demerits start several days before the holiday begins just gives the states more money into the coffers.
While no one wants friends or family killed on the road, you take a chance every time you drive you will not make it to your destination. This mass hysteria about the road toll while trying to reduce driver’s killed on the road, maybe if better roads were built, and safer cars were to be easily identified, the road tolls would be very low.
But expecting the road tolls to be zero during a holiday, while a great goal, will be almost impossible to attain when people are involved.
February 15th, 2008 at 1:09 am
Considering the masses of cars we have on the roads compared to many years ago, most of the drivers drive responsibly But however, I do feel more responsible drivers are fined & lose points than the irresponsible one’s. I’m talking about the ones that CAUSE the majority of DEATHS. The one’s that ARE NOT FINED anywhere near the amount they should be. Unfortunately for those trying to go with the traffic flow driving 10 to 15 km’s over the speed limit cop it worse & pay the penalties. The one’s that should have higher penalties are the ones that have no patients, i.e cut in, tailgate & or swerve hard between lanes when overtaking which usually cause the deaths/accidents (no matter what speed you drive you may get killed in any of the above circumstances mentioned & you don’t even have to be speeding).
I am sure many other have drivers encountered the following potential lethal experiences.
You are driving in the right hand lane (doing the speed limit) on a 1o0 or 110 km/hr road, going past a slower car and that person in (slower car) the left hand lane suddenly changes to the right lane right in front of you (in the 1st place, it shouldn’t have been done by them because its the overtaking lane) & you in the overtaking lane doing the speed limit (not breaking the law) have no option but to break & hope to hell (incl passengers) you will make it to your destination alive. Scenario WOW BANG (sorry you & passengers are dead or you maybe lucky phew I survived with a few scratches or a few broken bones) These are the people (the ones that were driving slower but never speed so never fined) the ones that have no thought or regard, (but aren’t they the ones to blame?)
People MAY or CAN die whilst driving . Not WILL die it was put by EH. It is not a definite thing (lots of other things can happen/ occur to cause death).
As far as revenue goes…. I’m sure a lot of it comes from parking fines (another issue) Just look at it. You cannot park anywhere without being charged for parking or fined cause you had no right to park there. We have nowhere to park anymore ..not even in front of our houses (what are road taxes for???) POTHOLES which ruin your car???? Example: My mother & father have lived at their house for over 25yrs. The RTA has now enforced a no stopping right in front of their house (between 3pm & 6PM) On the other side of the road they have enforced a 1 hr parking between 8:30am to 6pm. My parents & surrounding residents have no garage or driveway & cannot do so ( not that they haven’t tried) but because they are heritage listed houses (mind you most houses are almost falling apart but cannot be changed to accommodate parking due to being heritage listed). Surrounding residents & my parents have received continuous fines & have paid them. Seems to me that’s why the revenue is up so bloody high. Seems to me the wrong people are being punished & are paying fot it ALL.
There is so much more I could comment on but what I’d like to know is… TELL ME, WHO’S BEING PAYING (THE INOCENT) & REGARDING REVENUE WHOS POCKETS ARE WE FILLING????
February 15th, 2008 at 8:15 am
There is no such thing as an accident The reason that people crash their cars is because they drvie to fast for the conditions, get drunk stoned etc
sometimes the crash is caused by a fault in the vehicle. Especially if the car is not mainained properly by again “the driver”
Sometimes the road itself contributes to the crash, usually only if “the driver” does not drive to the conditions.
One of the main reasons for tail end collissions in this country is “tail gateing”
In Germany the speed cameras have been set up to catch tail gaters regardlees of speed.
It ia gainst the law in most state in Australia but I have never , never seen anyone booked for this. It is a major factor in many many crashes.
February 15th, 2008 at 8:29 am
People are going to continue dying on our roads when we have a an organisation such as the RTA promoting a drive to a rule book mentality. I personally believe the RTA is an accomplice to mass manslaughter.
People are not taught anything about car dynamics, handling or what will happen when it goes pearshaped. Hey, they are not even taught to put on the brakes after an accident!
We should be promoting proactive driving NOT reactive driving!
Stop wasting our taxpayers money and build better roads and while we are at it stop dropping to the lowest common denominator (in other words lets raise the average driving standard) and make it compulsory for everyone to do a car control / advanced driving course. Next we need a highway / freeway standard. Why not? We have standards for everything else! Min 100kmh - max 130 kmh for drivers with more than (say) 10 years experience.
Introduce log books for all drivers so that you have to get a stamp at service stations (ok, so this is not a perfect solution) and those not clocking up a required number of kilometres a year - they get retested. The points are changed to also reflect this - people who drive 50,000 km a year get more points - people who drive 1000km a year get less! Why? I know people who have a “gold” license and NEVER drive - no exposure to the road means they will never loose any points!
Stop parents from training their youngsters for driving - unless they pass a more advanced driving test. Why? I see many people who are obviously themselves not a good driver and then they teach their kids - what? How to be a bad driver!
Speed limits to be enforced within say 10%, many many road incidents occur due to slower drivers. It is not unusual on the mid north caost to see people on a highway that is 100kmh doing 60 or 70 and in one extreme 40kmh! If these people cannot or will not stop being a mobile traffic jam they must be removed from our raods or forced to pullover at points to allow traffic to move on (this normally never occurs).
School zones - are purely a revenue earning exercise as most schools do not offload onto main roads. If they do - it should be changed not the raod. A highway must not have a school zone on it as highways should be treated as a national resource - see standards above!
Overtaking, I see a lot of near disasters occuring due to people overtaking and not gaining significant speed differential - in other words they go past at no more than 100kmh which is absolutely crazy! The law should allow for a (say) 25% increase in allowable speed for overtaking. Less time on the other side of the road means safer! (Then again if we had dual carriage roads it would not be necessary!)
February 15th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
The Fines and demerit points we have in place a a joke. A fine is ment to be a deterant so make the fine a deterent say $5,000. The logic of people today is they only uderstand when it realy hurts there wallet
February 16th, 2008 at 11:23 am
I agree with Ian - the main reason for fatalities is that most people’s driving skills are appalling - I often wonder how they get their licence. Speed doesnt necessarily kill - its poor driving skills that will inevitably lead to death or injury in certain situations where the driver has no idea how to control their car. I would suggest that an advanced driving course should be mandatory for all new (and “old”) drivers. The state of Sydney & NSW roads is of courrse another factor - the Govt is making a fortune off fines - yet the potholes and poor and dangerous roads remain.
February 16th, 2008 at 11:35 am
well quite simply, I believe more police presence on the roads (not behind desks) during holiday seasons, common courtesy and early preparation on your car, self and occupants in your car before your journey.
Also have your regular stop for breaks and rehydration for long journeys, but most of all, you get to your destination when you get there, not ‘X’ amount of time.
Be an alert driver, be a comfortable driver, be a safe driver. Enjoy your driving journey and the scenery, especially in this great country of ours!
February 16th, 2008 at 7:30 pm
I agree with most of what Ian said. People in the right lane travelling at or below the limit cause accidents and it is an offence, but I have yet to ever see or hear of anyone getting booked for it. Perhaps because Police cars are probably the main offenders? Speed camera slow traffic for about 100yds before and 10 metres past the camera and have nothing to do with ‘road safety.” It is interesting to note that the State with the highest road toll last holiday period was Victoria with the countries most heavily policed radar and speed cameras (not marked). Could this be because the speed limits are too low for most modern cars to operate at and I agree totally that the 40kph school limits are simply revenue raisers. Most of the schools in this town start at 8:30am and are out 2:30pm or 3pm, yet we still have to crawl past the signs with not a child in sight and it is absolute stupidity to have a 40kph limit on 4 lane roads when the school entrances and loading zones are on side streets. Sorry to be a whinger.
February 17th, 2008 at 7:53 am
I’d like to propose a ‘courtesy and calm’ campaign.
As a younger man, I was a sometimes aggressive driver; the truth is, it made very little difference to travel time - a few minutes over several hundred K, perhaps - but a lot of difference to my unhappy passengers, and other road users. Nowadays, my off-the-shelf car has better handling, brakes, tyres, power-to-weight, safety - etc etc - than I could afford then. Theoretically, I could go faster, safer - but I don’t; that’s my choice.
The biggest safety (or danger) feature in the car is me - the driver.
I’ve taught quite a few people to drive now, and one of the things I impress on them is this: ‘paranoia is a useful state for a driver: your idiot is out there, the one who unknowingly wants to kill you - and at least six seconds a year, it’s you.’
I learned a valuable lesson from a passenger years ago. I was driving along when some idiot with wide wheels cut us off in a screech of tyres and a noisy fart of exhaust. As I drew breath to let loose, she commented: “That was so important to him - probably made his whole day!” I laughed and learned and decided that one idiot on the road was better than two.
Since then I have concentrated on being courteous to other drivers - a thousand subtleties that enable both of us to get where we’re going. When overtaking, I seek a good opportunity, not the first opportunity. I suspect that my travel times differ by less than a single red light’s wait. And I let other people have the angst.
Do governments harvest money off the unwary? Of course - and can justify it with fine dialogue. But all those tax buses and fixed ‘pay troll’ points do calm the traffic. So: that’s what my cruise control is for - cop control, calm control, able to watch for hazards without watching the speedometer.
Think about it - most of driving is not about managing the vehicle itself, it’s about coping with other drivers; other hazards, pedestrians, wildlife - so: courtesy and calm. And just a little bit of discreet fun where the visibility is good and the cops aren’t there (I hope!).
February 18th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
MY COMMENTS ARE SIMMILAR TO MANY OTHERS EXPRESSED HERE.
NRMA YOU NEED TO SUPPORT THE MAJORITY OF SAFE DRIVERS !!
When will Governments and Road Traffic Authorities wake up and get real about road safety ?
All official emphasis is on speed limiting.
THE REAL CAUSES OF ACCIDENTS IS DUE TO ATTENTION (or lack of), DISTRACTION, OR LOSS OF VEHICLE CONTROL.
We should drive according to the capability of our own skill and the handling ability of the vehicle. I favour advanced driving courses . (Our licensing system is totally unsatisfactory)
Basically all you have to do to hopefully survive on our roads is to STEER CORRECTLY to stay in the lane (look before you change lanes), and leaving sufficient BRAKING DISTANCE from the car ahead of you.
Many accidents reported in the news seem to be of single vehicles running off the road.
Reducing local speed limits will not stop drivers from falling asleep or steering off the road.
Motorists are faced with ever-changing speed limits .
DO WE NEED SO MANY DIFFERENT RESTRICTIONS: 30, 40, 50, 60,70,80,90,100, THEN FINALLY 110 ?
Many countries overseas (Europe & UK) have just two 60 & 100km/hr with unrestricted or 130km/hr on Motorways; They are true maximums for Urban, Rural and Motorways respectively.
Our limits are set as LOWEST POSSIBLE.
(Most motorists are suspicious of the application of school zones: especially speed cameras to fund flashing lights which shouldhave been provided to notify to drivers whether it is a school day or in school times)
Why have school zones where NO Children cross the road? The times of operation does not need to be 1+1/2 to 2 hours long.
FINAL COMMENT : WHAT ARE POLICE CARS DOING HIDING BEHIND SHRUBS WITH TOY PISTOLS ?
They should be checking out what stupidity is going on the roads…….
February 22nd, 2008 at 10:55 pm
NSW freeway class roads, in particular example the F3, has a few key items that need attending, before we can seriously consider ever raising (or derestricting) certain lengths of existing 110km/h zones.
The road has signposted; “Emergency Service U-Turn” bays, that some drivers treat as ‘private intersections’, say to illegally turn into a business, or to do an illegal U-Turn, often across the path of much faster closing traffic, and sometimes with the need to then accelerate quickly ‘away’ from that closing traffic, as in the case of an illegal U-Turn. This is an incredibly selfish, dangerous behaviour.
The answer here is that RTA are studying ‘gatelock’ systems that would be installed on each U-Turn bay. This action would take years to implement at current funding levels.
Another issue, is the requirement for additional median barrier to prevent or reduce the likelihood of cross-over crashes. In my personal EU insight view, I’d have it so applied ‘full-length’, without fail.
Those observations can be applied to many sections of the NSW Hume (Pacific Hwy and F6), which are both ‘freeway’ and ‘dual carriageway’ class.
The ‘freeway’ category of course has, thankfully, ‘grade-seperated interchanges’, rather than a ‘dual-carriageways’ inherently more dangerous ‘intersections’! Here, a one-stop higher limit/allowance simply cannot be applied.
We then need to improve on what is ’standard, required equipment’ before contemplating a raise in speed-limit allowance, certainly as a whole-of-action behavioural program. This would mean adopting a hazard-warning triangle requirement for cars, vans and 4WD’s, certainly to the Euro/UN specification. (UNECE 27R).
Another, is to similarly adopt that those categories of vehicle also be required to carry, perhaps per passenger seat, (or at least ‘one’), a high-visibility ’safety vest’ to EN471 Specification or AS equivalent. Done,- to aid in pedestrian AND road-user safety when attending broken-down vehicles and crash scenes.
The triangle and safety vest items are in EU - *required items*, in ALL NEW and EXISTING vehicles.
Regulations in each EU state then stipulate ‘use’ of same. Indeed, China has adopted the EU/UN warning triangle (UNECE 27R) as a national standard.
The triangle and safety vest items form part of a newly developing “UN Convention on Road Traffic, Signs & Signals”, which will replace earlier versions of same (the 49′ and 68′ plus amendments).
Australia needs to remove all reference at ADR13, “Part 8.5.1″. This item runs contrary to road safety and its existence is to me both offensive and represents sheer negligence - in the area of traffic safety.
This action would effectively mandate the ‘rear fog’ item for most all NEW MARKET vehicle categories; done - for those severe weather and dust conditions that so easily render standard tail-lamps utterly worthless or pointless. Enforcement of use is simply a matter for police.
Australian reliance on the use of hazard-warning lamps (ARR 221[e]) as defacto rear fog lamps, runs directly contrary to the existing UN Road Traffic Conventions on the use of hazard warning signals.
One day in AUS, we might start getting these important finer, simpler things ‘right’.
Can’t take the place too seriously till we do. IF the Commonwealth agencies cannot achieve these basic ‘updates’, then a state parliament *shall* do it for itself, in time. The NRMA would do well to support same, without fail in my view.
November 13th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
While Allen Evans should look more at what causers the “accidents”
If divers followed the following guidelines accidents would decrease dramatically ,There is no such thing as a Dangerous road if drivers obeyed some basic rules only dangerous drivers.
Unfortunately most of the comlaining drivers have been brought up to expect to be able to drive at whatever speed and conditions they want
If the Following were followed
1: Drive to road,traffic and weather conditions
2:Don’t drive if they have alchohol in the blood
3:Don’t drive with Drugs in the System
4:Don’t drive While tired
5: Don’t drive too long ,particularly after work but take frequent Breaks
IF these rules were followed the road fatalities would decrease dramaticarly
In closing Allen should go back to the country of his ancestors and see the roads they drive on ,many of them the width of one of our lanes