Whether you ride, drive or walk, using the road comes with risks – but it should never cost you your life. We all deserve to get to our destination safely, which is why we all need to share responsibility for safety on our roads.
In 1970, Victoria experienced the highest number of road deaths ever recorded, 1,061 people! Since then, a number of world leading initiatives have been introduced to reduce the number of people killed and seriously injured on the roads.
We've come a long way. But even now, more than 200 lives are lost on Victorian roads each year, and over 5000 people are seriously injured. Our aim is to be a world leader in road safety and eliminate all road deaths by 2050.
Many countries around the world have a lower rate of road trauma than Victoria. For example, if Victoria had the same rate of trauma as Sweden or the UK, we would see 100 less deaths a year. Let's take a look at what the world leaders are doing and what we can apply to our own road network.
'Vision zero' is an international road safety movement, based on the belief that even one life lost on the roads is too many. Australia and well as many other countries around the world, have made a commitment to work towards eliminating road deaths and serious injuries by 2050. It's an ambitious goal to work towards, but there is good evidence that this is achievable if the government, organisations, communities and individuals all work together.
To reach zero deaths, we need a road safety system built on the understanding that humans will always make mistakes, and that human bodies are vulnerable. We can only withstand so much force before trauma occurs.
This system will:
● encourage safe behaviours among all road users
● ensure people are travelling in vehicles that help to prevent crashes and limit the injuries if crashes do occur
● provide safer road environments
● and have speed limits that are safe for the road environment and road users.
All parts of the system work together to keep road users safe. So if something goes wrong, the rest of the system steps in – meaning that If a crash does occur, it doesn't result in serious injury or loss of life.
