A “damning” report by the nation’s peak motoring body has called on Tasmania to reduce its road toll after Australia experienced its “deadliest month” in six years.
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The Australian Automobile Association released its latest analysis of the National Road Safety Strategy on Tuesday, revealing 90 per cent of the strategy’s targets “will not be met and governments are failing to fulfil the commitments made”.
While Tasmania’s road toll dropped 2.7 per cent last year, there was only one less fatality than the year before.
The report suggested “more work needed to be done” in Tasmania, as well as the Northern Territory, Western Australia and South Australia, to reduce road deaths.
But former Road Safety Advisory Council chair for Tasmania Jim Cox said the state had and was “doing as much as we can”.
The national strategy was signed by state and federal governments in 2011, aiming to reduce death and injuries on Australian roads by 30 per cent before 2020.
However, December was revealed as the “worst month of road fatalities” since the initiative was implemented.
AAA chief executive Michael Bradley described it as “alarming”.
“This analysis is a damning indictment of those who have been responsible for the strategy’s implementation since 2011 and reflects a disjointed and disorganised approach to road safety in this country,” he said.
“We have just experienced the deadliest month on Australian roads since 2011 and it should serve as a wake-up call to government that continued inaction is having devastating consequences”.
Reacting to the report, Mr Cox said it was “easy enough to criticise, but to come up with solutions was difficult”.
“Tasmania certainly keeps pushing the message, but ultimately the responsibility is on the road user,” he said.
RACT chief executive Harvey Lennon agreed educating road users was key, but also agreed with the report’s suggestion Tasmania was not doing enough.
“Tasmania’s progress in reducing the road toll has not been as significant as we would like,” he said.
“More needs to be done to educate drivers to take road safety seriously. Any loss of life on the road is one loss too many.”
Last month, The Examiner launched its road safety campaign, In Your Hands. The campaign aims to highlight the impact of road tragedy on victims, their families and the wider community.
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Melissa Mobbs
A journalist with more than a decade of experience, Melissa Mobbs currently works as the Deputy Editor for The Examiner Newspaper in Launceston, and has a strong background in reporting on crime and the justice system. Send tips to Melissa.Mobbs@examiner.com.au or on Twitter via @melissamobbs.
A journalist with more than a decade of experience, Melissa Mobbs currently works as the Deputy Editor for The Examiner Newspaper in Launceston, and has a strong background in reporting on crime and the justice system. Send tips to Melissa.Mobbs@examiner.com.au or on Twitter via @melissamobbs.
