Former Motor Accident Commission chairman Roger Cook concerned cuts contributing to road deaths

Long-term head of the state’s road safety authority says he is deeply concerned spending cuts are contributing to a SA’s rising road toll.

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The long-term head of the state’s road safety authority says he is deeply concerned spending cuts are contributing to a shocking escalation in fatalities and serious injuries.

Roger Cook, who chaired the Motor Accident Commission for almost a decade, is urging an urgent blitz of its innovative safety campaigns ahead of the authority’s imminent closure in a bid to stop an alarming surge in road deaths.

Mr Cook, whose only son, Andrew, 22, died in a 1995 road crash, says this resurrection of award-winning advertising campaigns needs to be complemented by increased police operations.

The holiday long weekend started with a fatal crash in the Murray Mallee yesterday afternoon, bringing the road toll to 54, compared to a record low of 80 for all of 2018. More than 180 people so far this year have suffered serious injuries from road crashes.

Treasurer Rob Lucas last October said the MAC would close from July as a result of the previous government’s decision to privatise its insurance arm, but its $11 million funding for advertising, research, partnerships and sponsorships would be maintained across multiple government agencies.

SA government "Rest Every 2 Hours When Driving" Motor Accident Commission Easter road safety campaign poster.

Motor Accident Commission (MAC) road safety campaign advertisements showing consequences of losing your driver's licence.

But Mr Cook, MAC chairman from 2006-2015, said more money needed to be spent to run the commission’s former campaigns, which included drivers “creeping” over the speed limit and a hairy fairy urging motorists to slow down.

“ I’m deeply concerned there is a link between the reduction in the MAC campaign budget, that was approximately $12.5 million at the time of its sale by the previous government, to the current reduced level and the shocking escalation in fatalities and serious injuries,” Mr Cook told The Advertiser.

“ … I suggest the best of the MAC campaigns and billboard messages be urgently resurrected and used to blitz all media until a proven workable alternative to MAC is agreed upon,” Mr Cook said.

“This needs to be accompanied by the increased police operations that are highly successful and complement MAC campaigns.”

Mr Cook said many of these campaigns had been focused in the country, due to the disproportionately high rates of fatality and serious injury crashes involving both city and country people.

A billboard advertisement from the Motor Accident Commission road safety advertising campaign, aimed at young men

Mr Lucas said the former Labor government’s decision to privatise the MAC meant the Liberals had to address “a number” of the issues raised by Mr Cook, including guaranteeing every dollar of the current MAC campaign and sponsorship budget would be protected and spent on road safety.

He said the June 18 State Budget would “include a significant commitment from the Marshall Liberal Government to road safety-related upgrades of roads in both regional and metropolitan areas.”

“The current spike in deaths has occurred while the MAC still exists and is managing spending on MAC campaigns,” Mr Lucas said.

“The very best of current MAC campaigns will continue to be used after July 1, when SAPOL and road safety experts in DPTI (transport department) take over the role.”

Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said: “We are positioned to take over that quite comfortably and we are looking forward to maintaining the same level of service the state has had in terms of road safety messages that we have seen in the past from the Motor Accident Commission.

“We will have more than sufficient budget to run the marketing and communications aspect as had been previously undertaken by the Motor Accident Commission.”

Opposition Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services Lee Odenwalder said the Government’s decision to axe the MAC was making roads less safe.

He said MAC staff had been gagged from public promotion of road safety messages, which were disappearing, and there were many unanswered questions about the commission’s closure.

RAA Senior Manager Road Safety Charles Mountain said: “Re-running ‘the best of MAC advertising’ might be an effective and cost-conscious option during the interim period until a new campaign strategy is developed by the government department taking on this responsibility.”

He said the RAA had been actively monitoring the decision to disband the MAC and lobbying to ensure road safety remained top of the agenda, given no single government agency would have responsibility.