Tourists should be better educated on Australian road safety to help reduce shocking crash toll

TOURISTS should complete an online education module before getting behind the wheel of a car in Australia as a way to reduce the road toll.

TOURISTS should be educated on Australian roads and conditions before getting behind the wheel of a car in our country, the nation’s peak automobile body says.

The Australian Automobile Association has called on the federal government to stop buck passing on road safety and fund strategies to significantly reduce our road toll like the international driver program which is in place in New Zealand.

Road crashes are costing the economy $30 billion annually, as the target to reduce road trauma by 30 per cent by 2020 looks certain to fail.

As part of the latest call to reduce road deaths, tourists would undertake an online training course “upon arrival” or even en-route to the country that would run them through real-life scenarios of our roads and conditions.

Road trauma is one of the leading causes of death for international visitors to Australia.

The New Zealand course, which reaches thousands of tourists each week and came into place in 2015, asks potential drivers to pick the correct response in each scenario.

In Tasmania, where international drivers make up 10 per cent of all road trauma, the call is for the training to be mandatory for all international visitors.

Backpacker Muriel Grisiger, 21 from Switzerland prepares to get behind the wheel. Picture: Nigel Hallett

The push has been backed by the Australasian College of Road Safety who say such a program has “merit”.

“All the figures going in wrong direction in terms of road trauma,” AAA chief executive Michael Bradley, who said the education should be federally funded and encouraged but not mandatory, told News Corp Australia.

“The status quo is not an option and this is one way the federal government can take some responsibility and make our roads safer.”

Mr Bradley said the piecemeal state by state approach to international drivers was endemic of why more federal leadership was needed.

“(This is) symbolic of our broader approach to road safety research, data collection, and public education,” he said.

“The federal government needs to be more involved in identifying emerging road safety issues and co-ordinating the activities to best manage them.”

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As part of the latest call to reduce road deaths, tourists would undertake an online training course. Picture: Anna Rogers

Mr Bradley also said obtaining more data from crash sites — particularly on mobile phone use — should be another key priority to reduce the road toll.

The RACT said Tasmania was a popular driving holiday destination for tourists but often its roads were not studied enough by new drivers.

“We’d like to see this education occur for all tourists and look potentially at making it mandatory later down the track,” RACT’s Stacey Pennicott said.

Tourism and Transport Forum chief executive Margy Osmond said any additional hurdles for tourists would be counter-productive.

“While road safety is critically important, potentially expensive and time consuming mandatory driver education courses for international visitors could discourage tourists from exploring many parts of Australia,” Ms Osmond said.

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Tourism and Transport Forum chief executive Margy Osmond said any additional hurdles for tourists would be counter-productive. Picture: AAP

News Corp Australia can also reveal road crashes are costing our economy $30 billion annually — the first update to the figure in close to a decade. And the cost is $3 billion more than what it was in 2006 despite a slight reduction in the road toll.

Taxpayers and government are taking a $4 billion direct hit each year from road trauma due to lost taxation, income support and health and emergency service costs.

Each road death is costing the economy $4.34 million with serious injuries a $239,000 slug each.

In the year to June 2017 there were 1241 deaths on our roads with more than 100 Australians injured in road crashes each day.

Transport Minister Darren Chester would not commit to better educating tourists as a way to improve road safety but said he was deeply committed to reducing the road toll.

“I am passionate about road safety and I refuse to accept that human lives are the price

we have to pay for a modern road network,” Mr Chester said.

Labor’s transport spokesman Anthony Albanese said the NZ road safety education for tourists needed to be considered in Australia.

“The Government needs to increase its focus on road safety and should examine the New Zealand system and any other programs that can help arrest the alarming increase in road deaths,” Mr Albanese said.

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