Premier unveils new state number plates slogan

06 Sep 2012

MEDIA RELEASE: Thursday 6 September 2012

Victorian number plates will soon carry the road safety message Victoria – Stay Alert Stay Alive as part of the Victorian Coalition Government's bid to reduce the state's road toll.

Mr Baillieu announced the new number plate slogan during a regional sitting of Parliament in Ballarat today.

The road safety message is expected to make its debut on number plates in early 2013, when VicRoads now predicts the current number and letter combination for plates will be exhausted.

Mr Baillieu said the initiative built on Victoria?s reputation as a world leader on road safety.

"We want to make sure that we keep road safety front and centre for every Victorian," Mr Baillieu said.

"What better place to reinforce road safety messages to motorists than on number plates," Mr Baillieu said.

"Last year 287 Victorians lost their lives and more than 5,000 people sustained serious injuries on our roads.

"When driving our attention needs to focus on many things – intersections, other vehicles, pedestrians, motorcyclists, cyclists, speed limits, other hazards and our own behaviour.

"The message Stay Alert Stay Alive will act as a constant reminder to motorists about the need to remain focused and drive safely on our roads," Mr Baillieu said.

"This is also about getting people thinking and talking about improving road safety.

"We know that continual reminders and reinforcing messages are an important part of road safety public education.

"The new number plate slogan will effectively mean hundreds of thousands of reminders to drive safely on our roads every day."

The search for a number plate message began last year, when the Coalition Government invited Victorians to submit ideas for potential messages as part of the 'Name a Plate for your State' initiative.

Thousands of ideas were submitted covering topics such as speeding, drink-driving, texting and respecting other drivers.

"Victorians young and old and from all walks of life responded to the chance to let us know what concerns them most about safety on our roads," Mr Baillieu said.

"We are now inviting Victorians to have further input into the development of a 10-year road safety strategy by responding to a survey and directions paper on road safety."

Mr Baillieu said the message Stay Alert Stay Alive is the product of community feedback and the advice of our road safety agencies to ensure this message is the most effective road safety message for our number plates.