Horror weekend on WA roads as people drink-drive from Perth nightspots
The state’s top traffic cop is despairing that the road safety message is not cutting through as WA hurtles toward its worst road toll in a decade.
From 5pm Friday to Sunday evening seven people died in crashes taking the state’s road toll this year to 173.
Of the weekend’s incidents, four involved motorcycles.
With the Christmas period approaching, Road Policing Commander Mike Bell said it was likely the state would reach or pass 2016’s high of 179.
“That concerns me because we’re three weeks out from Christmas, and I suspect unfortunately, more people will be going through this suffering,” he said.
Bell said the message didn’t seem to be getting through that road safety was everyone’s responsibility, citing recent operations that found people were still drink and drug driving.
“The reason I don’t think culture has changed is because I can tell you, on Friday night, we did a lockdown at the casino from 5pm Friday night and out of that we had 64 positive breath tests and six positive drug wipes,” she said.
“And the week before that, we locked down Northbridge, and we came up with 59 positive breath tests and seven positive drug wipes.
“That tells me strongly that the culture out there isn’t changing.”
Bell said while the weekend’s crashes were still under investigation many appeared to be related to the usual suspects in crashes – speed, impaired driving, fatigue, distractions and seatbelts.
“I’ll implore people to drive to the conditions, to take responsibility for their actions and that of their passengers and drive in order to get where they’re going,” he said.
WA Premier Roger Cook echoed Bell’s statement.
“Behind those stats, there’s grief, there’s loss, there’s pain and I’m just pleading with all Western Australians, particularly in the couple of weeks ahead leading up to Christmas, please take extra care on our roads,” he said.
“Don’t leave your loved ones with grief, with loss this weekend, this Christmas.”
Cook said a review into the evidence that drives road safety campaigns will be completed by the middle of next year.
His government has faced increasing pressure from the opposition over the spiralling road toll.
On December 1, the Tom’s Law P-plater rules came into effect, limiting red P-plate drivers to only one passenger in their vehicle at all times.
The new rules follow the deaths of Tom Saffioti and Nick Campo, who died as passengers in separate crashes in 2021 and July, respectively.
Campo’s father Daniel helped convene a road safety summit in September after the death of his son which resulted in a renewed push for Tom’s Law.
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