Regional road safety campaign launched as country road toll rises

New research shows there’s a growing divide on South Australian roads, with one factor linking more than 70 per cent of this year’s fatality crashes.

Nearly three-quarters of deaths on South Australian roads this year have been in the country – and now police are taking action to tackle the devastating divide.

Of the 69 lives lost on SA roads so far this year, 50 – or 72 per cent – have been in country areas.

The latest, a 31-year-old Paralowie man, crashed his motorcycle at Saddleworth in the state’s Mid North on Saturday.

The victim died at the scene, despite valiant attempts by motorists who stopped to perform CPR. His father took to social media to thank those who “helped our boy”.

SA Police Assistant Commissioner Ian Parrott said 30 per cent of the state’s population lived in regional and rural areas, but country roads accounted for the “overwhelming” majority of deaths.

Of the 50 lives lost on country roads this year, 23 ­victims lived less than 20km from the crash site.

The grim imbalance has prompted police to roll out a new advertising campaign in mid-October.

Mr Parrott revealed that police would specifically target country motorists, with filming expected to start next week.

The mass media campaign will focus on the fatal five risk factors – speeding, distractions, drink and drug driving, inattention and failure to wear a seatbelt.

It will replace the “Think About Who You’ll Leave Behind” campaign and target overconfidence of country drivers on familiar roads.

A crash on the Victor Harbor to Adelaide road, six kilometres north of Mount Compass, where a utility car and truck collided.

“This campaign is specifically designed to address how people living in regional areas feel about road safety and to demonstrate how the fatal five applies to them,” Mr Parrott said.

“It also resonates with metropolitan drivers who are travelling on regional roads. The fatal five does not discriminate and nobody is immune.”

Mr Parrott said the new campaign had been “carefully crafted” to change driver behaviour and “have a positive impact on reducing lives lost in regional areas”.

He said many regional drivers believed that “crashes on country roads are often caused by, or involve, metro drivers”.

He said while the danger of country roads was reflected in statistics, country drivers had misconceptions about their own safety.

He said police research showed country drivers:

BELIEVE they know their local roads intimately and can drive them confidently, having made the same trips ­multiple times, and;

BELIEVE country drivers around them are courteous and that city drivers are erratic, angry, frustrated and generally more rushed.

Mr Parrott said that police efforts in the country would be helped by the fact that ­regional drivers were highly aware of road safety ­campaigns.

“Billboards on regional roads and highways have generated high levels of awareness and respondents in research could spontaneously recall at least three or more road safety campaigns that SA has delivered,” he said.