Tough new laws on drink-driving in place to stop NSW’s rising road toll
Transport Minister Andrew Constances makes no apologies for tough new drink-driving laws which have resulted in 230 people losing their licence in 23 days.
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Almost every day most of us jump into a car to travel to work, to school, to pick up the kids. Almost every day we carry out these ordinary tasks, with little thought that what we are doing has the potential to be deadly.
It saddens me to think that there are people walking around our community today, who could be killed on our roads tomorrow.
That’s the unfortunate nature of road accidents, they happen when people don’t expect it.
Overall, the number of deaths on our roads is up for the year, and they’re not just numbers, they are human lives.
There are a whole range of messages going out about the dangers and pitfalls of driving across the road network. We really need everybody to pay attention.
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The day my life changed, I got up in the morning never considering by 2pm I would have been involved in a high-speed head-on.
But that’s what happened to me.
In a matter of seconds, our lives changed forever.
But we are also considered some of the lucky ones. Despite serious injuries, we survived.
A child restraint saved my then four-year-old daughter’s life. But far too many others aren’t so “lucky”. Far too many people don’t survive.
All of us need to do our part to put a stop to the number of people being killed on our roads.
We all need to take responsibility and do what we can to put a stop to the trauma, a stop to the grieving.
We need to put a stop to our rising road toll.
The NSW government has introduced tougher drink-driving reforms in light of 174 people who have been killed on our roads so far this year.
Now, anyone caught drink-driving loses their licence, immediately.
Some have criticised the decision, but most have praised it.
We made that decision because we know that alcohol seriously affects our ability behind the wheel.
In the first 23 days, 230 licences have been suspended. That’s an average of 10 drivers a day who are now off our roads because they were caught doing the wrong thing and putting themselves, and others, at risk.
The message is clear and simple. This is about saving lives. There are no more excuses.
What we are also going to see is innovation and technology giving us a better advantage to save lives.
We don’t implement any of this for fun, we implement changes to save lives.
We are going to have further things to look at around mobile phone detection, and that’s a great initiative.
We want to urge people to hear the messages and be safe.
Of course I want us all to be able jump in the car to travel to work, to school to pick up the kids. But I want us to do it safely.
I want everyone to wear their seatbelts, to have the correct safety restraints for their children, to have a Plan B if they’re going to have a drink or two.
Most of all, I want everyone who jumps into their car, to make it home safely.
Please, don’t become a statistic.
Andrew Constance is NSW Transport Minister
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