The Tasmanian community seem to accept that there always will be fatalities on our roads.
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So far this financial year there has been 33 crash fatalities and 275 serious injuries (June 20).
If there were 33 deaths by electrocution each year, would we accept that? Why do we accept this loss of life on our roads?
People are complacent because they don't connect their driving behaviour to a road fatality - but neither did those who died in those road crashes.
The overarching principle with regards to traffic policing is that police have a fundamental obligation to ensure road safety.
This principle has two elements:
- Firstly, apprehending those who engage in risky driving behaviour.
- For example, booking motorists for speeding stops them from offending immediately at that time and also provides deterrence for them into the future.
- Secondly, this enforcement creates deterrence generally. People witnessing, knowing or hearing about that booking increases the perception of them being caught for similar behaviour, thereby creating a future deterrence.
These are not separate issues - they are intrinsically linked. When motorists fear detection they are more likely to obey the law. By extension, if drivers comply with the law we should see a reduction in crash fatalities and serious injury crashes.
Deterrence is no better exemplified than by the use of high profile police presence on our roads. For example, targeted patrols on "hot spot" roadways where there are concentrations of crash fatalities and serious injury crashes, vehicle clamping and confiscations, detections of unregistered vehicles, random breath tests, mobile phone detections, seatbelt compliance and apprehending speeding offenders. Particularly on Friday and Saturday nights. For that weekend, and probably longer, people talk about: "Be careful, the cops are about," with a reduction in drivers exceeding the speed limit.
It used to be common to be pulled over by police on these nights. However, how common is it these days?Deterrence is about increasing the perception that you will get caught breaking the road rules.
Automated technologies, such as speed, mobile phone, seat belt and traffic red light cameras, also provide a critical piece in the puzzle to build deterrence.
In Tasmania, there are only 10 fixed speed cameras, two of which are on the Tasman Bridge. These cameras have been in operation for more than a decade.
What is the plan for speed cameras in this state? Why haven't we rolled out more? Why haven't we implemented new technology over the past decade?
The latest Tasmania Police statistics suggest there has been a reduction in road enforcement activity. However, this is a symptom of less intervention, with police being diverted to other duties - COVID-19 security, airport and home quarantine compliance and supplementing other government agency capacity shortfalls.
It also reflects ageing speed camera devices, which are not fully maintained and a lack of systematic implementation of more contemporary detection technology over the past decade. Of Tasmania's road fatalities, 70 per cent occur on rural roads, with higher speed zones in these areas presenting an increased likelihood of serious injury and crash fatalities. The government organisations focusing on road safety are Tasmania police, state growth and councils.
If police are redirected away from road rule enforcement, who is doing this?
The ability to conduct targeted enforcement of high risk/repeat offenders would have also been impacted, due to requirements at airports, hotels or residences for COVID-19. The Road Safety Advisory Council advises government on road safety.
Advertising campaigns and infrastructure improvements are the core tools of the council and they are effective.
However, the RSAC continues to make recommendations about cameras and reductions in speed on rural roads. Nobody seems to be listening or acting on this advice. The state government has delivered more police, which should equal more policing, which should equal greater deterrence with the result being safer roads.
As a community we need to get serious about reducing the number of fatal and serious crashes and accept our responsibility to change the current situation.
We need a complete and operationally-focused cross-government plan to coordinate enforcement and deterrence activities with strong leadership. Who is driving this?
The questions to answer are:
- Are there "hot spot" maps available to the public to show the concentrations of crash fatalities and serious injuries?
- What strategies are being implemented to enhance deterrence and enforcement in those locations that the fatal five are at greatest prevalence?
- What is the state plan for automated technologies to aid to build a deterrence?
Police have four core functions: emergency management, criminal investigations, public order and traffic. If one or two of these consumes our capacity, or we do tasks outside our core functions for other government agencies, how do we give these four, specifically traffic policing priority?
- Colin Riley, Police Association of Tasmania president