Taking the shot: It’s time we confronted WA’s road trauma crisis

Right now, WA is on track to record one of its worst years for road trauma in a decade.

We’ve all seen the increasing media coverage of the number of deaths and serious injuries occurring on our roads. These news reports only last a minute or two, but the devastation for WA families and communities lasts a lifetime.

The Safer Speed trial is out for public comment.Credit: RAC

We must do all we can to arrest this trend and refocus our efforts on the priority when travelling: ensuring everyone arrives safely at their destinations.

I would like to share a quote from ice hockey great Wayne Gretzky: “You miss one hundred per cent of the shots you don’t take.” It may seem a bit unusual to quote an ice hockey player regarding road safety, but let me explain why now is the time to take a shot at creating genuine change for safer roads in WA.

The WA government has recently announced new passenger restrictions for P-plate drivers. This is a great example of a sensible change that will deliver immediate road safety benefits. There is another initiative that would do the same: the targeted reduction of speed limits.

Community consultation is under way to reduce the speed limits on up to 1800 roads in the South West.

For the past three years, RAC, the City of Busselton, and the Shire of Augusta Margaret River, with support from Main Roads WA, have collaborated extensively.

Following consultation, and if support is provided by the local governments, a Safer Speeds Trial in the region would commence.

Of course, there are numerous opinions about speed and speed limits. But the facts tell the real story.

The facts are:

• speed is the major contributor to our poor road safety record.
• WA is the only state in Australia with a default speed limit of 110km/hr outside built-up areas.
• the State’s Road Safety Strategy is predicated on speed reduction to achieve its targets.

In other words: speed is the single element of road safety that gives us a chance to save as many lives as possible and achieve our targets within existing timeframes and budgets.

History tells us the main concerns rolled out about reducing speed limits are that “it will increase my travel time, make me lose attention, and increase my fatigue”. Or that speed is not the actual problem.

This is simply not the case.

The most common crash type in regional areas is a single vehicle leaving the road, generally at a high speed.

On 16 roads “travel time tested” in the proposed trial area in the South West, the average increase in driving time was 62 seconds. 62 seconds. In almost all cases the increase in travel time would be less than two minutes.

A 2004 study by the Monash University Accident Research Centre found reducing speed from 60km/hr to 50km/hr in built up metro areas led to a 21 per cent reduction in serious crashes.

So, we know safer speeds present a clear path to saving lives. We know the impact on travel times is minimal. And we also know community attitudes are changing, and support for safer speeds is growing.

Given all we know, the right thing to do now is to at least take the shot.

Safer speeds create a more forgiving environment for drivers. Safer road infrastructure does too.

That’s why the other shot we must continue to take is on improving the quality of WA’s regional roads.

Through a partnership between RAC and the WA Local Government Association, again supported by Main Roads WA, we have developed a nation leading proposal for a road safety program which could have a dramatic impact on regional road safety.

We call this the High-Speed Local Country Roads Program and it would fund 8200 kilometres of country roads and cost $552 million.

Government analysis shows this type of targeted investment can achieve a 50 per cent reduction in fatalities and 35 per cent reduction in serious injuries.

With road trauma costing our state $2.4 billion each year, it just makes sense.

WA once led the nation on road safety. We can do this again, but it requires bold action by all of us.

We can support sensible and low-cost road safety solutions which make our roads more forgiving, especially in our regions where we know 60 per cent of road fatalities occur.

Together we can take a shot at actually achieving the state’s existing road safety strategy aims.

Or we can continue to do the same thing – and continue to see the same devastating results.

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