Drive to Survive: Car safety technology could save lives on country roads

MAJORITY of fatal car crashes on Victoria’s rural roads have one thing in common, according to new data. This is what experts say can be done to reduce deaths on country roads — where drivers are five times more likely to die.

MODERN car-safety features could save dozens of lives on our country roads as research shows older vehicles are involved in the majority of fatal accidents in Victoria’s regions.

Transport Accident Commission data has found that 70 per cent of last year’s rural road fatalities were in a car 10 years or older.

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It comes after the Herald Sun yesterday revealed that Victorian motorists were now five times more likely to die in the country than in the city.

TAC lead director of road safety Samantha Cockfield said drivers on regional roads were involved in a higher number of head-on and run-off-road crashes than in Melbourne.

Road deaths could be slashed if motorists drove the safest vehicle they could afford.

“We know that road deaths could be reduced by up to 40 per cent if every driver drove the safest vehicle they could afford,” she said.

“New safety technologies like electronic stability control and lane keep assist will help prevent common crash types from happening on regional roads and ensure everybody makes it home safely.”

Last year, 109 fatal crashes recorded in regional Victoria were the result of a vehicle leaving its lane.

But Professor Brian Fildes, of the Monash University Accident Research Centre, said new lane keeping controls found in modern cars could reduce the likelihood of these accidents.

“Cars today are infinitely more safe than they were 20 years ago,” he said.

“The design of cars has evolved to contain the energy of a crash and lower its impact on the occupants.

Modern cars now have technology like lane keep assist and enhanced stability, which could save lives. Picture: iStock

“But we’ve also seen the advent of technology that prevents the crash from happening at all.

“Enhanced stability control features work so that if you lose control of a car in a bend the vehicle will actually correct itself.”

Prof Fildes said research had also shown wire rope barriers were effective in minimising the damage of car crashes at high speed.

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“These have been rolled out by the state government and the aim is to prevent the car from hitting something more solid,” he said.

“The other issue that is vitally important is speed. Keeping a reduced travel speed in a crash means you can mitigate the injury to the point of having no serious or fatal crashes at all.

“That’s the aim of what we’re trying to do.”

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