We’ve all experienced it at some point.
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You’re driving along in your car, minding your own business and you see an accident on the side of the street.
A few things can happen. You slow down and merge to the other lane (if travelling along a dual lane highway).
You don’t slow down. Or you become so distracted with what is happening at the accident site that you nearly or in some instances cause a second accident.
This week Victoria introduced a new law for when driving pass a stationary or slow-moving emergency vehicle.
Drivers will now have to reduce their speed to 40km/h when passing emergency vehicles displaying lights or sirens.
Failure to do so could mean a $277 fine.
There are many advantages to reducing the speed limit.
As per above, it would help to reduce accidents for those who like to sticky beak when passing an emergency service vehicle.
It would also help to improve the safety of emergency personnel on the scene.
Tasmanian volunteer firefighters have requested a similar law change for our roads.
However, they want to take it one step further and reduce the speed limit to 25km/h.
The Tasmanian Volunteer Fire Brigade Association says it has been calling on the change for “many years”. The push is all about the personal safety of those emergency workers attending the scene.
Back in 2014, South Australia introduced the 25km/h speed limit when travelling past emergency vehicles.
RACV have criticised the practicality of Victoria’s rule change. The main question is around the safety of reducing speeds when travelling along highways and rural roads at speeds up to 110km/h.
Council and road workers have the tools – speed signs – to reduce speed limits when working alongside roads. On a daily basis you see this speed change ignored by many road users. The temporary reduced zones appear to be rarely monitored.
Motorists are also legally required to reduce to 40km/h when bus lights are flashing. Again, this is often ignored by road users.
How the rule change would be enforced would be the key question for any change to be effective.
Without question, the lives of those who are saving lives must be protected. To make that safety a law sends a strong message to all road users.