Zero road deaths target of new campaign

26 Aug 2015

The Andrews Labor Government and the Transport Accident Commission (TAC) have signalled a major shift in the way we talk to Victorians about road safety with a new campaign.

Minister for Roads and Road Safety Luke Donnellan today attended the second annual Towards Zero Road Safety Leadership Symposium, launching the TAC's Towards Zero campaign, asking Victorians to aim for zero deaths on our roads each year.

"We realise Towards Zero sets an ambitious target but unless we're working towards the highest possible benchmark, Victorians will continue to lose loved ones to road trauma and we can never accept that," Mr Donnellan said.

"If we're not aiming for zero, we are saying to ourselves that there is an acceptable level of road trauma."

For the last 25 years Victorians have seen advertisements with slogans like 'if you drink and drive, you're a bloody idiot' or graphic imagery of crashes. But from today, they will see a new style of TAC commercial.

The Towards Zero campaign will ask Victorians to consider what it would be like to lose their loved ones on the roads.

Victorians know that they should wear a seatbelt and why they shouldn't drink and drive, speed or text at the wheel but we are still seeing too many people die on our roads.

Road trauma is not about numbers published next to the words 'road toll'. It is about our brothers, sisters, children, parents, friends and colleagues.

It is about everyday Victorians and their families whose lives will never be the same.

The star of the commercial, Victorian local Francisco Cerros, is asked the question: 'Last year 249 people died on Victorian roads. What do you think is a more acceptable number?' His answer is 70.

Mr Cerros is not an actor and he was not prepared for the sight of 70 of his closest family and friends walking around the corner. In an unscripted response, he is moved to tears before changing his answer to zero.

Towards Zero represents a new approach to road trauma reduction which will be supported by the Government's new Towards Zero Road Safety Strategy to be launched later this year.

Both the campaign and the strategy support Victoria's efforts to make every journey on the state's roads a safe one by ensuring Victorians are safer drivers, driving safer cars, at safer speeds, on safer roads.

The Symposium will hear from international and Australian road safety experts and attendees will be from the Transport Accident Commission, VicRoads, Victoria Police, Department of Justice and Regulation and the Department of Health.