The Legislative Assembly Economy and Infrastructure Committee tabled its report into the impact of road safety behaviours on vulnerable road users in Parliament.
The Nationals Member for Shepparton District Kim O’Keeffe, who is the deputy chair of the committee said it was so important to have had one of the six hearings in Shepparton.
“Regional voices need to be heard and I thank all who attended the hearings which provided valuable insight and lived experiences. These contributed greatly to the final report,” she said.
“Whilst the report primarily focuses on road users’ behaviour during and after the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the safety of vulnerable road users, we heard many Victorians feel unsafe on our roads.
“Findings included drivers are flouting the road rules more than before, drivers rare more aggressive and impatient, people perceived a drop in road rule enforcement during lockdowns, a drop in driver skills, concentration and a range of poor driver behaviour is acknowledged in the report.”
Pedestrians, bike riders and motorcyclist are extremely vulnerable and as noted in the report so far this year they make up two out of five lives lost on Victoria roads. Alarmingly two thirds of lives lost have been on regional roads.
“The Committee’s final report made 56 recommendations to the Victorian Government, with several recommendations highlighting regional Victoria. This includes working with regional councils on high-speed roads and intersections, to support safer road behaviours,” Ms O’Keeffe said.
The Committee also recommended to the Government that the Transport Accident Commission run a targeted campaign for regional roads, highlighting the factors contributing to fatalities, including speed, distractions and variables of regional roads.
A further recommendation was to prioritise road treatments on regional roads.
“The state of our roads has been deteriorating dramatically with 45% cut in road maintenance funding since 2020. The government must re-instate road maintenance funding in next week’s budget to address the appalling and unsafe condition of our roads,” Ms O’Keeffe said.
“Victoria is experiencing its highest road toll in 15 years, with a significant number of these tragedies occurring in regional Victoria.
“Almost two-thirds (65%) of lives lost on Victorian roads over the past five years have been in regional Victoria. Last year alone, 295 lives were lost, with 191 of these lives being lost in regional Victoria.”
“National Road Safety Week is a time that we all need to think about our own driver behaviour and do all we can to stop the increased road fatalities.”
“During the last Parliament sitting week, I raised my concerns of the increased fatalities we are experiencing in our region with the Minster for Roads and Roads Safety Melissa Horne. I urge the minister to address this as a matter of urgency.”
Read the interim report here:
https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/get-involved/inquiries/roadsafetybehaviours/reports/
