Rural road safety month: Australia’s dangerous driving habit revealed

Australians are being asked to explore the regions during the COVID-19 pandemic, but many have admitted to a shocking road habit.

Australians are playing a dangerous game on our country roads.

New research from the Australian Road Safety Foundation (ARSF) has shone a light on the dangerous behaviour of drivers on rural roads.

One in five drivers admitted to being more likely to break road rules in rural areas and speeding was top of the list of offences.

More fatal accidents happen in country areas than in the major cities. Pictures by Thomas Wielecki.

Driver fatigue and drunk driving were the other common dangerous practices in rural areas.

The research is being used to highlight rural road safety month, which aims to reduce the road toll on our country roads.

Two thirds of road deaths last year were in rural areas, despite the majority of the population living in major cities.

One in five drivers admitted to being more likely to break road rules in regional areas.

ARSF’s chief, Russell White, said the research showed that a huge chunk of city drivers aren’t aware that more fatalities happen on country roads than in the city.

“Despite smaller population numbers, 835 people tragically lost their lives on regional roads last year, which shows that just one dangerous choice can have dire consequences,” said Mr White.

“When it came to reasons for increasing risky behaviour on rural roads, not getting caught was the most common response, and it was most prevalent among regional drivers.

“The research also tells us that on rural roads, local drivers are more cognisant of their behaviour causing harm to others, whereas metro drivers are more likely to only be concerned with doing harm to themselves,” he said.

There has been a reduction is cars on the road during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pictures by Thomas Wielecki.

Australia’s road toll has taken a dip this year, but according to the Australian Automobile Association (AAA) this is an aberration and is the result of lower traffic due to COVID-19.

The head of the AAA, Michael Bradley said: “The reduction in traffic due to the COVID-19 pandemic is almost certainly responsible for putting a small dent in Australia’s road toll. But it should not take a virus to stop the scourge of fatalities on our roads.”

Despite the dip, regional fatalities are still over-represented in the fatality statistics according to the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE) figures.