1600 Road deaths - 6700 work related fatalities.

Every form of travel has it's dangers. The bicycle, horse drawn carriage and the sailing ship have killed many people. The motor vehicle is no exception.

Every year there are around 2700 suicides, 6700 work related fatalities (ACA 28 April 05), 1000 heroin overdoses, 1000 poisoning & incorrect medication and 1000 fall related deaths in Australia. This totals around 12,500 preventable deaths each year plus the 1600 road fatalities. There is an inordinate amount of control and focus on the motorist compared to other causes of preventable deaths.

Whilst there is high focus on the dangers of the motor vehicle the benefits far outweigh the dangers. Motor vehicles save more lives than they take. For example, people are more likely to be killed walking through a bad neighbourhood than driving through it with their doors locked.

Ambulances get to life threatening situations faster, with more life saving equipment and trained paramedics than previous methods. Fire trucks not only arrive sooner with more equipment, their engines drive massive fire pumps to put down fires faster. Police vehicles enable officers to intervene at the scene of a crime far sooner than in the past.

The fact is, motor vehicles save lives but they also take lives and everything possible should be done to reduce road crash casualties. Achieving zero road fatalities is a great target but probably not possible. There will always be medical conditions that occur while driving, birds that strike motorcyclists and more.

RoadSense ten point road safety plan.

Solution number one – position speed cameras at genuine black spots.
Locate speed cameras at genuine black spots, not from one to five kilometres away as the law now stands. Position them exactly at the black spot.

Make speed cameras highly visible with extensive warning signs of the danger zone as well as signs leading up to the camera to advise of their presence. Allow the use of speed camera detectors in vehicles to alert drivers to the danger of the black spot. (The use of speed camera detectors are currently illegal in most states – owning them may not be illegal.)

The speed camera was developed as a safety device to reduce the road toll, not government revenue generation and authoritarian control. Use speed cameras for the purpose for which they were intended - safety.

Solution number two – lane discipline, keep left unless overtaking.
Create media and highway billboard campaigns to teach motorists about lane discipline - to drive on the left on motorways unless overtaking.

The same campaign used to educate about lane discipline should also educate against tailgating.

Most motorways were built since over half the population sat their driving test, few have been taught how to drive on modern roads and motorways. Many are confused and fearful to drive on motorways while common sense and confidence is required for safe driving.

The German Autobahns are some of the safest roads in the world with no posted speed limits and a 12% reduction in their road toll in 2004. They do however apply strict lane discipline while slow motorists sitting in the fast lane are severely penalised. Tailgating when strict lane discipline is in force is also severely penalised.

Solution number three - set speed limits at the 85th percentile.
The 85th percentile is the speed at which 85% of the traffic travel freely (no speed limits) on a given section of road. Road engineers around the world agree that this is the safest speed at which to travel.

Set speed limits at the 85th percentile and police them using common sense with sensible leeway - not Victoria’s 3 km/h.

Implementing the 85th percentile rule is one of the most important things the authorities can do to reduce the road toll from speed related accidents. Nobody is testing a new theory, there is overwhelming evidence that it is successful.

Solution number four - cops back on the beat.
Put more highly visible white and blue Police cars on the road to reduce below the limit “speeding” and the dangerous driving that cameras cannot see and do nothing to prevent.

Covert police cars and hidden speed cameras do not discourage dangerous driving. Remember, 98% of fatality accidents occur below the speed limit, below the radar, and policing of bad and dangerous driving can only be achieved effectively with the presence of a police officer - not a camera.

There will be cries that this is too expensive. The fact is we used to have cops on the road in white and blue police cars before speed cameras and we now pay higher taxes than in the past - where has the money gone? The state governments get all the GST from petrol, pokies, alcohol, cigarettes. Use some of this money to put more cops on the beat.

Solution number five - education and training.
Introduce rules of the road education at school. There are many experts encouraging basic driving education in schools. It is one of our most important life skills. Don’t only run fear of speeding campaigns. Fear does not work with the youth, they are invincible.

Require a set amount of experience, say a two day practical vehicle control course, with no test required prior to the drivers licence test. The NSW motorcycle program is a good model - it has reduced the NSW motorcycle road toll and gained public support.

Provide drivers with practical vehicle control skills for their test - do not test the course. Nobody should be frightened of failing the course - that is what the existing drivers licence test is for.

Provide funding for “out of control” driver training facilities such as skid pans. Let new drivers experience exactly what it is like to be in an out of control vehicle, let them realise how quickly it can happen. Scare the hell out of them in real life - not a TV commercial. Kids are told that TV is all fantasy anyway.

When the greatest fear of the driving test is reverse parking, something is seriously wrong. Parking is not a major safety issue.

Solution number six - intersection speed reductions.
Reduce traveling speed through intersections in much the same way that speeds have been reduced at school zones. Remember, according to the RARU report, the majority of accidents occur at intersections.

Investigate the British system of red light overlap and amber before green to reduce accidents and speed the traffic flow.

Eliminate red light cameras at intersections or increase amber time when cameras are used. Red light cameras are a whole different can of worms and do not appear to reduce the road toll when they are seen as revenue raising devices. There is a wide belief that the amber time is reduced when many red light cameras are set up in order to increase revenue.

Solution number seven - safety belts.
Increase safety belt awareness campaigns. I know the authorities do this constantly but they say things like, “wear a belt or wear a fine”. Threats don’t work very well in the new millennium - we have moved beyond that. The vast majority of people in a civilised society respond to encouragement.

Create awareness that a high percentage (around 20%) of fatality drivers were not wearing safety belts. The average motorist does not know this - they think that only speed kills and you have to wear your safety belt because the authorities say so.

Safety belt use increased in Montana in the USA when the government could not apply speed limits for some years due to legislative issues. Drivers had to take responsibility for their own actions and safety belt use increased.

Solution number eight - develop policies based on collisions kill.
Speed does not kill. Collisions kill. Base road safety policies on the real cause of death and injury on the road - collisions - hitting another vehicle, object or person while driving or riding.

Strive to avoid the collision in the first place rather than a softer crash. Encourage drivers to be more alert and take more responsibility for their actions.

Let road users know a speed limit is not going to protect them - only safe and alert driving will do that. Use media campaigns to encourage a safer, more tolerant driving culture. This could be very effective if safe driving is offered as a carrot for abolishing speed cameras other than at genuine black spots.

Encourage a safer driving culture. You cannot legislate for good behavior, you cannot legislate for and enforce a safer driving culture, it has to be encouraged.

Solution number nine - remove government greed.
The state governments are double dipping. They collect fines as well as take away drivers licence points for traffic infringements. Remove the incentive for state governments to generate income from setting and policing road rules.

Retain the loss of points system which road users fear the most but apply only a flat administration fee per infringement.

Do not allow commissions on money generated from speed camera fines to private enterprise as in Victoria.

Remove the open ended opportunity to make money from traffic infringements and we will see real safety policies being implemented - policies that will help prevent those 98% of fatalities that occurr below the speed limit.

There will be those who say fines are a deterrent and give reasons why they work. The fact is fines are unfair and penalise the poor more than the rich - company car drivers need never lose points provided that they pay higher fines than private motorists. With both fines and points the governments are double dipping, which is unfair.

Solution number ten - provide recreational parks for motorists.
Virtually every form of leisure activity is catered for, football fields, basketball courts, skate parks, cycling tracks, bush walking, cricket pitches, swimming pools and more. There are no easily accessible or affordable recreational facilities for activities such as vintage rallies, drag strips and more.

If motorists are being prevented from enjoying their leisure activity as they were able to in the past before the implementation of new rules, then alternative facilities need to be provided. Use old stretches of road, even charge entrance fees to maintain the road and cover insurance the same as in other sports. Injuries may occur the same as they do in rugby and other sports.