As of 5 March 2018, 71 people have lost their lives on the NSW roads – 23 higher than the same time last year. This off the back of 2017, which saw 392 people lose their lives on our state’s roads – the highest since 2009.
So when the NSW Government announced its long awaited Road Safety Plan 2021, a strategy designed to reduce deaths on NSW roads, in February, it couldn’t have come a day sooner.
In what is a significant win for Members and NSW road users, the Government has adopted a number of measures proposed by the NRMA, identified in our Road Safety Series of reports released last year on the subjects of driving fatigued in Dead Tired and driving distracted Can’t Talk. Driving. Check out the adopted initiatives below.
Initiative 1: Audio tactile line marking on high risk rural roads known for fatigue related crashes
The NSW Government has announced it will inject $125 million for a new Saving Lives on Country Roads program including safety barriers, wide centre line, safety upgrades of high risk curves and $11 million for pedestrian and cyclist safety improvements including traffic calming measures, pedestrian refuges and crossings to keep cyclists and walkers safe.
Among its suite of measures includes the implementation of audio tactile (rumble) line marking, a technology we called on the Government to roll out across the state’s highways to help alert fatigued drivers in our Dead Tired report, released in December 2017.
What this means for you, our Members and NSW road users: Crashes involving vehicles crossing over the centre line, causing head-on collisions, are one of the most severe types of crashes. The vibration of tactile edge lines on roads can help alert drivers when they are drifting off the road through a series of audible grills on the road. Studies1 have found a 29 percent reduction in single vehicle run-off-road crashes on rural, two lane roads where tactile edge lines were added on sealed shoulders.
Why the NRMA proposing this initiative: Driving tired is the second biggest killer on NSW roads and the cause of almost one in five road fatalities. In addition, a survey of nearly 500 NRMA corporate driver training program participants revealed two thirds drive for more than two hours before stopping for a break, putting them at risk of driving tired. Tactile line markings are a relatively inexpensive measure that could help combat fatigue related crashes.
Initiative 2: Enhanced police and speed camera enforcement
Cameras already installed on roads and bridges will be used to support the work of NSW Police and include fixed, mobile and red light speed cameras. The NRMA called for increased enforcement to ensure illegal use of mobile phones and other technologies continue to be detected in our Can’t Talk. Driving. report.
What this means for you, our Members and NSW road users: Even a brief glance at a mobile phone can be dangerous – a car travelling at 60km/h covers 33 metres in two seconds, meaning a motorist is effectively driving blind. As the number of people putting other road users at risk by using their mobile phone illegally while driving increases, technological advances in camera enforcement could save more lives on our roads.
Why the NRMA proposing this initiative: The growing danger of illegal mobile phone use while driving is highlighted throughout NRMA’s Can’t Talk. Driving.report, which reveals one in five road users have had a near miss because the other driver was using a mobile phone. More alarmingly, 15 percent of drivers believe they won’t get caught while using their mobile phone illegally behind the wheel.
Initiative 3: Alcohol interlock program to include all mid range drink driving offenders
In 2012, the NRMA successfully campaigned to see alcohol interlocks fitted to all high range drink drivers’ vehicles. The NSW Government has announced it will extend this mandatory program to include drivers caught with a BAC level of over 0.08.
What this means for you, our Members and NSW road users: An interlock device is a breath testing device fitted to a car’s ignition system, and will detect any alcohol in the driver’s breath, disabling the vehicle if it reads a positive blood alcohol concentration. The driver will not be able to drive until they return a reading of 0.00. With a proportion of drivers taking the risk of getting behind the wheel drunk, the NSW Government’s expansion of NRMA’s 2012 proposal around alcohol interlocks will help make our roads safer.
Why the NRMA proposing this initiative: The NRMA has been at the forefront of the campaign to address the dangers of drink driving over the last 40 years and, in the 1980s, ran the first ever education campaign to tackle drink driving. However, despite decades of campaigning, drink driving remains in the top three killers on NSW roads.
