Local motorists are being urged to take extra care on rural and regional roads this Rural Road Safety Month.
Officially launched today in Newcastle, the Australian Road Safety Foundation (ARSF) has released new research highlighting the joint responsibility of both metro and rural New South Wales’ residents to address the shocking disparity of rural road deaths.
Despite just over a third of the state’s population residing outside the greater Sydney area, deaths on rural New South Wales roads accounted for more than two thirds (68%) of last year’s road toll.
ARSF Founder and CEO Russell White said the most concerning piece of research was the number of respondents who admitted to unpreparedness and bad behaviour when driving in rural areas, a combination he believes is lethal.
“On one hand, the research is showing a shocking lack of resilience, which is essential on rural roads, along with very lax attitudes towards safety in these high risk environments,” he said.
“Along with 55% of the state’s drivers not making sure their vehicles are safe for a road trip, there’s a very clear issue with road trippers being completely vulnerable to dangerous driving conditions that are often more prevalent in regional areas.”
The ARSF said the main reason drivers seem to be more likely to break a road rule in regional areas is because they either believe its safe to do so, are distracted or simply trust a police officer won’t catch them in the bush.
NSW Minister for Regional Transport and Roads Sam Farraway said that Country people make up around a third of NSW’s population but over the past five years deaths on country roads made up 67 per cent of our road toll.
“People who have been killed or injured on our roads aren’t just another statistic. They are mothers, fathers, brothers or sisters, grandparents and friends. To think of them as just another number
dehumanises the real story behind our state’s road toll,
“A death in a country town extends beyond the immediate family to the local cop who attends the scene to the community who sees one less familiar face around,” Sam Farraway said.
Rural Road Safety Month is a national community-based road safety initiative that runs across September. The event, now in its fifth year, is designed to educate all road users on the additional risks of rural roads and engage them in changing behaviours to actively reduce the burden of road trauma.