National action taken to combat road trauma

People dying on the roads are a daily occurrence this year, and police from across the country are saying enough. While one life lost on the road should be too many, it seems that the message of driving safely is not getting through.

Today all police jurisdictions are coming together to run a national road policing operation. Known as the National Day of Action, it is taking place as a direct response to the terrible year on Australian roads.

Road Policing Command Assistant Commissioner Stephen Leane said enforcement was a critical element of changing road user behaviour.

“This year a lot of people are dying on our roads who do not need to be,” AC Leane said.

“Each state will be using intelligence to determine what driver behaviours will be a priority, and have police out enforcing against them.”

While regional and rural roads are a priority for every state, the community can expect Victoria Police to also be cracking down on drivers choosing to break the law and speed.

“Speed kills, it’s just physics. 80km may not seem fast, but if you hit a tree, a signpost, a light pole, or another vehicle at that speed – it could have deadly consequences,” AC Leane said.

“At the end of the day we just want people to make it home to their friends and family. Unfortunately this year, this has not happened for 190 Victorians.”

Victoria and South Australia are the most challenged this year, seeing a particularly high increase in road fatalities when comparing to 2018.

A national road policing forum in July saw Deputy Commissioners and Assistant Commissioners with road policing responsibility from across the country to address the challenges Australia is having on the roads. As a direct result of this forum it was decided that a National Day of Action was required.

The National Day of Action is a one day road policing operation running across the country on Tuesday 27 August 2019.

National lives lost figures:

STATE/ TERRITORY 2018 lives lost figure 2019 Lives lost figure (2pm Monday) Difference

WA 106 lives lost 115 lives lost 9 up

NT 34 lives lost 21 lives lost 13 down

QLD 173 lives lost 131 lives lost 42 down

NSW 235 lives lost 240 lives lost 5 up

VIC 132 lives lost 188 lives lost 56 up

ACT 9 lives lost 3 lives lost 6 down

TAS 20 lives lost 22 lives lost 2 up

SA 45 lives lost 75 lives lost 30 up

TOTALS 754 lives 795 lives lost 41 up

/Public Release. View in full here.