Member for Myall Lakes Stephen Bromhead has announced the first ever comprehensive road safety education campaign to target regional NSW in an all-out effort to spread the critical message that too many country people are dying on the State’s roads.
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Saving Lives On Country Roads aims to highlight the hidden crisis unfolding almost daily on the state’s regional road network, a crisis which is devastating families and local communities.
The campaign is also designed to kick start a new conversation in the country by challenging the ‘yeah but!’ attitude of excuses many drivers make to justify taking deadly risks on our roads like speeding, drink and drug driving, driving tired and not wearing seatbelts.
“We need to face up to the fact that far too many country people are dying on our roads,” Mr Bromhead said.
“Here in Myall Lakes 20 people have lost their lives and 254 were seriously injured in the past five years, this is slightly more that the total number of residents in Bungwahl and this has to stop.
“Over a quarter of the serious casualties were aged over 60 years of age and had an estimated cost to our community of $217 million.
“Road trauma resulted in over 310 people being admitted to local health facilities over the five year period.
“Statistics show that speeding was a factor in 40 per cent of fatalities while alcohol contributed to 15 per cent and the Illicit drugs factor was 30 per cent.
“As a father and grandfather, it breaks my heart to know families are being traumatised by these death and injuries on our roads, and that’s why a campaign like this is so important to get the message across to country drivers, that it’s not tourists or people from the city dying on their roads, it’s locals.
“It’s time for the excuses to stop. It’s not good enough for drivers to say things like ‘Yeah, but I was only going a few kilometres over the limit’ or ‘Yeah, but I didn’t think I needed to take a break because I was so close to home’ or ‘Yeah, I’d had a few drinks but I needed to get the kids home’. ”
The new $3.4 million dollar campaign is part of the NSW Government’s vision of a future free of road trauma and the ultimate goal of zero deaths and serious injuries on our roads.
Fairfax Media NSW and the department of transport have also teamed up to encourage drivers to rethink their actions and Survive the Drive.
Through a new campaign the organisation hopes to shine a spotlight on the ripple effect of trauma, the risks contributing to fatalities and the devastating impact of road crashes on families, community and emergency services.