Road safety is not a new message.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
There have been countless campaigns, and laws introduced to try and keep drivers and other road users safe.
Yet every year far too many people die.
Every year more families are torn apart, and more emergency workers are exposed to traumatic scenes.
So what are we doing wrong?
The majority of crashes in Tasmania and across the country are preventable.
Drivers speed, don't pay attention, use their mobile phones or drink or take drugs before they get behind the wheel.
While we need safe roads to travel on, the responsibility ultimately falls on those with the keys in their hand.
They hold the power, they are in control of their vehicle.
Infrastructure can only go so far to protect somebody. Barriers in the middle of the road may stop a car ending up in another lane and killing people in another car, but it doesn't guarantee the driver in the wrong, or their innocent passengers will be OK.
It only takes a few seconds to make a mistake on the road, and the impacts last forever.
So how can we change driver behaviour?
How can we get the message through to the minority of drivers who continue to ignore the rules, and put other lives at risk?
That is why The Examiner is launching another road safety campaign - Stop. Think. Drive.
Because the message may not be new, but it remains important.
The road toll is more than numbers.
Each person killed is someone's loved one.
As part of the campaign, The Examiner is inviting readers to voice their concerns.
Do we need new legislation, to introduce double demerit points or harsher penalties, should we improve infrastructure, or create greater access to public transport?
These questions, and others, will be put to the key stakeholders - the politicians, the road safety advocates, the researchers.
If there was an easy answer we wouldn't be having this conversation.