Road fatality numbers are ‘heading in the wrong direction’ with too many deaths

Road deaths are “heading in the wrong direction” the road safety experts say and we could be going back to statistics last seen in the ‘80s. Here’s why speed limit changes could be key.

A two car collision on the Claremont Link Road under the Brooker Highway underpass, Claremont. Picture: MATHEW FARRELL/file

Tasmania has to be “brave” and consider measures including lower speed limits if it is to combat the preventable road safety crisis and reach its fatality targets.

Australasian College of Road Safety Ingrid Johnston said numbers of road deaths were “going in the wrong direction” across Australia.

Tasmania has lost 25 lives on the road so far this year, including a double fatal on Friday afternoon. The figure is one higher than at the same period last year.

Dr Johnston said road safety targets could only be met if policy makers were prepared to make tough decisions and have difficult conversations with the community about road safety issues including speed and vehicle safety standards.

“We have to make the brave decisions to turn this around,” she said.

Dr Johnston said community opposition to speed limits was often used as an excuse to shy away from talking about speed.

“Actually people in the community do want it because they see it works, they see that it makes their local area much more liveable,” she said.

Australasian College of Road Safety CEO Dr Ingrid Johnston and Tasmania's Road Safety Advisory Council chair Scott Tilyard at the 2024 Australasian Road Safety Conference in Hobart. Picture: Elise Kaine

Dr Johnston said both city limits and open road limits needed to be looked at and reduced where appropriate.

“If we don’t do something differently then instead of halving fatalities by 2030 we will have increased them so much we might as well be back in the 80s.”

Tasmanian Road Safety Advisory Council chair Scott Tilyard said Tasmania was too far off track already to meet its target of fewer than 200 serious injuries and deaths on the roads by 2026.

“To be perfectly honest I don’t see how we are going to achieve that,” Mr Tilyard said.

He said a lot had to be done at the national level to be able to half fatalities by 2030.

Mr Tilyard said the Tasmanian government and Road Safety Advisory Council wanted to achieve the targets set out by focusing on the fatal five: Speeding, Seatbelts, Alcohol and drug use, Distraction and Fatigue.

He said to seriously combat the road fatality crisis speeds across the road network needed to be better managed, and possibly reduced.

The Road Safety Advisory Council would begin community consultations about a speed management strategy in the next week or two, Mr Tilyard said.

“It’s a case of how do we better manage speed across the network because it is such a big factor in fatal and serious crashes,” Mr Tilyard said.

He said the strategy was about looking at the road network and trying to identify roads where the speed limit may need to be reduced, but there may be some aspects of the network where speeds may actually be increased.

He said every fatality sent a ripple effect of impacts across the community.

Transport minister Eric Abetz said the commissioner for transport determines speed limits and would consider all evidence.

“We need convenience, we need safety and we have to combine those things,” he said.

Hobart is hosting the world’s biggest road safety conference at Wrest Point this week where over 600 national and international road safety professionals, researchers and academics.

The event runs over three days and explores the latest developments and innovations aimed at reducing road fatalities and serious injuries.