Seatbelts, driving to conditions among simple steps that could ease road toll

The head of Victoria’s road safety office has warned basic lessons have fallen by the wayside as the state’s shocking road toll soars to new levels. But some simple acts could help save lives.

Simple acts such as wearing a seatbelt are being forgotten as Victoria grapples with the staggering number of lives lost on our roads.

Robyn Seymour, the head of the state’s newly formed road safety office, has warned basic lessons have fallen by the wayside as the state’s shocking road toll has soared to levels not seen in nearly a decade.

Almost a third of the 175 fatalities recorded so far in 2019 involved motorists not wearing a seatbelt or cyclists not wearing a helmet. High speeds were a factor in a quarter of all deaths.

“We’ve had mandatory seatbelt laws for a long time,” Ms Seymour said.

“This year is unusual in that we are up across every single category.

“A few things that stand out for me are seatbelts and high-speed crashes. These are some basic things and I would love to understand why we’re seeing this increase.”

The state’s shocking road toll has soared to levels not seen in nearly a decade.

The carnage has been so shocking that this August has been named Rural Road Safety Month. More than two thirds of deaths so far this year have been outside Melbourne and many of them have involved a driver losing control and crashing on the side of the road.

“In regional Victoria it’s really bad,” Ms Seymour said.

“Another horrifying statistics is that 76 per cent of fatalities have been male and it’s really hard to understand.

“One of the great myths is that it’s tourists, but the vast majority are regional people on regional roads.”

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Ms Seymour said Road Safety Victoria was now analysing every single fatality in 2019 to understand what could be done to save more lives.

“We’ve got a proud story to tell in terms of road history and hopefully over the next year we will see the benefits of investments in regional roads and wire barriers.

“My number one message is we’ve all got an important role to play to make sure the second half of this year is not as bad as the first,” she said.

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