Easter road toll finishes at 14

By Matt Brogan | April 14th, 2009

The Easter national holiday road toll has finished at sad total of 14 this morning following two more fatalities yesterday.

Tasmania recorded its first fatality on Monday when a 22-year-old man, later revealed to be an off-duty Policeman, died in a single car accident in Launceston.

A Queensland woman was also killed on Monday when her car collided with a power pole at around 1pm just west of Brisbane.

Her death brought Queensland level with NSW’s tally of five recorded deaths.

Victoria, Western Australia, the ACT and Tasmania all recorded one death each.

The Easter road toll is down 7 from last year when 21 deaths were recorded over the same period.

dfg

A 23 year old male died last night. It hasn’t been mentioned in the news yet
Matt

So NT dont count anymore?
http://bent Millatime

If 14 Australian soldiers were killed in Iraq or Afghanistanover this Easter the outcry would be enormous and there would be protests in the streets.

When will the government act to protect motorists beyond blatant revenue raising?

In Brisbane there was a senior officer being interviewed on the side of a major road, as usual he glibly prattled on about the dangers of speed, while the officers behind him with hand held radar diligently kept the cash register’s ringing by booking those motorists coming off the end of the motorway (near base of Mt Cootha?), and not slowing down in time.

There’s not much money to be made policing road accident black spots.

And the Police wonder why so many people loathe them..
Supply & Demand

This wouldn’t of happened if we had more hidden camera’s parked at the bottom of hills, double demerit point deductions, more Police off the roads and in the schools, lower tolerance for km’s over the limit maybe say 3km/h in a 60 zone to 1km/h, a more flexible hoon and drink driver policy maybe a 5 strikes your out policy instead of 3, more police congratulating drivers for good behaviour and above all an even more expensive speed kills add campaign!!!!
http://bent Millatime

Believe it or not policing is about quota’s. Why don’t you ever see RBT’s just down the road from pubs? Because it’s all about testing X amount of drivers, not actually apprehending those over the limit. If they set up near a pub they would have so many offenders to process they would never meet their qouta on the number of drivers to be tested.

Is this the best way to protect the public?

Speeding is quota driven but with the emphasis on fines issued, hence revenue camera’s are almost always at the bottom of hills and on roads with high traffic volumes.

Is this the best way to protect the public?
sprae

We will never stop accidents from occurring. Minimisation maybe possible but its all down to educating drives and better road conditions. No amount of penalties will ever stop minority of the public from binge drinking, drugged up, fatigued or speeding from driving.

Have anyone thought about fatality rates on holiday period are often comparable to regular fatality rates year round?
Supply & Demand

Sprae, if we can prevent racing drivers from dying when they crash their cars at 300km/h I’m sure a day will come when all motorists will walk away from impacts that occur at less than a quarter of that speed. Love to see it in my lifetime, but with the way current road “safety” policy is trending I assume I probably won’t.
sprae

@Supply & Demand – Racing drivers are well training from a very young age and have (at least some) talent in reaction time and judgement to be anywhere near being competitive in their respective racing format. Your average driver does not (including myself).

Even with all these training and leading safety regulations, there are still fatalities in motorsports…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deaths_in_motorsports
Marcoz

14 too many. But it is inevitable, god will take who he wants to take and when, you will never ever ever, get zero road toll.

It’s just a fact of life.
Acfsambo

I have sympathy for the families and passengers of those drivers who caused the accident they died in, and the drivers, passengers and families of those who were innocent by-standers, may they RIP.
Devil666

Dammit, we tied for Gold. I hate sharing.
Brett

Thank you Marcoz, but I’m not sure how much theology has a real impact on our road toll.
I’d be very interested to find out national road tolls, week on week, over the whole year. The government seems to publish these ‘Holiday’ road tolls much more than any other time. Is there really such a big discrepancy or are they just using these holiday periods to justify their draconian like enforcement of speed laws?
Devil666

But seriously, these days I can see more in common with the road toll and natural selection. As horrible as it may be to think about it in this way, the road toll is generally refining and strengthening the gene pool as the idiots wipe themselves out. Sure you get a few accidental deaths where the strong will get wiped out by tools, but it happens. Death happens. Meanwhile the parents of idiots try and raise the driving age because their particular idiot was of course an angel in their eyes. Any method that looks tough, is cheap to implement and comes as a knee jerk reaction to a particular incident seems to gather way too much political and public support these days.

To really cut down on the road toll, its time we started ACTING like a globalized nation and take successful, proven methods from other countries. Not just for road safety either, how about road construction?
sprae

Internet is your friend. http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/roads/safety/road_fatality_statistics/index.aspx

2007 Weekly average of 31 fatalities across all Australian road users – 1,616 fatalities Annual 2007 report
http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/roads/safety/publications/2008/pdf/Ann_Stats_2007.pdf
Supply & Demand

Sprae, I’ve worked in motorsport, most drivers are old and fat business people with no experience bar the minimum training required to gain a cams licence. I agree with you a little though, more training is required. I can theoritically never have a lesson and pass a licence test in Victoria
sprae

@Supply & Demand – Agreed. I don’t understand why we can’t add the cost of getting a licence with defensive driving programs for learners or refresher course for existing drivers or when the renew licences every 10 years.

Costs for such programs is acceptable and can be factored in as the privilege to operate on the roads. Proactive education and prevention is better than most law penalties or fear ads mongering.
Howie-VL

devil666-

So your saying that these people who happened to do something silly on the road and died, deserve to be dead?

And by what your saying it seems your implying that all young people that die on the road were/are doing something silly when they crash. Please clarify your statement for me cause I disagree…. A lot.
Acfsambo

Howie, I don’t think he was saying all that died on the roads deseved to die, but if you do something stupid like speed at 200km/h or erratically change lanes without looking and expect a spot to be there or take a corner at way too fast a speed, why should we have sympathy for their stupidity. Definately natural selection at work, though I do feel sorry for those who are innocent bystanders.
http://bent Millatime

Sprae: “2007 Weekly average of 31 fatalities across all Australian road users – 1,616 fatalities Annual 2007 report”

These figures are staggering.

There were 5 senior police interviewed over Easter, every single one of them mentioned “speed” as a factor.

Not poor road design, not poorly maintained roads, not dangerously inadequate roads, not lack of driver skill through inadequate driver training, not poor driver attitudes through lack of driver education, not lack of barriers to separate oncoming traffic on motorways, not immovable objects placed too near the roadways, not failing to remove trees in close proximity to the roadways, not confusing fluctuations in the speed limit over the same stretch of road, not inadequote lighting at night, not the proliferation of deliberately distracting roadside advertising billboards, not the idiotic placing of traffic advisory signs that block motorists view of the roads, no, none of that was a factor at all..

All of the above issues and many more can all be made to go away instantly by blaming road deaths on speeding.

All this carnage is the motorists fault for speeding, says the Government over and over again, and when interviewed on TV lots and lots of police all line up to say the same thing.

So clearly it is our fault then, and it most certainly is. But it’s not speeding we are guilty of. WHAT WE ARE GUILTY OF IS OUR DEAFENING SILENCE AND LIMP WRISTED INACTION ON THIS ISSUE, WHILE ALLOWING THE GOVERBMENT TO BLUDGEON US AROUND THE HEAD WITH EVER MORE DRACONIAN PENALTIES.

Australian motorists and motoring bodies must find their voice to pressure Government’s into effective action TO SAVE LIVES.
Frontman

Sprae, thanks for putting in that link it goes to show that it is more a political beat up than an unusual occurence these Holiday road tolls.
I agree that 14 is too many, but with the emphasis seemingly placed on revenue over all else, the authorities will forever be up against it. Ditch the Cameras, ditch the mobile cahs register in a plain wrapper, triple the number of hi vis patrol cars (heck use Corollas Focuses or Kia’s it doesn’t matter) get the police out in the wide open in traffic and watch how much people behave themselves. Indicators will no longer be ornaments, mobiles will ring till the battery goes flat and people will get off the bumpers of the car in front because that car will be in the left lane. Damn it’s hard to understand the easiest fix isn’t it??
Hummerbug

I Blame God! Are you with me Devil666 ? On another note people kill people cars dont drive themselves… Doesnt matter what the cops do or the government nature always wins …
http://cratra@iinet.net.au HWP officer

“Millatime”….. not one statement you made in your ramble is true. I have been a HWP officer for 20 years and can tell you the following.
1. There is NO quota for HWP and never has been. This is a public illusion. Police do not get any more money or benefits from getting more offenders than anyone else. All they get most of the time is further abuse from the offenders they deal with. But that is the JOB.
2. HWP Police catch HEAPS of drink drivers and sit of pubs/clubs in the dark waiting for pissed/drug affected drivers to jump in their cars. I know myself, that is generally what we do most of working HWP in the city. I can tell you that there is a large number of people that continue to drive impaired by drugs and/or alcohol. When we set up SRBT it is generally in areas were you can not turn off and we can easily get offenders as they drive into the site.
3. HWP spend a lot of time intercepting dangerous/disqualified/unlicenced drivers/street racers, drivers refusing to stop (pursuits), defective/illegally modified vehicles.
4. HWP are tasked to investigate collisions.
5. Every HWP officer is not waiting at the bottom of the hill to get you travelling 10 km/h over the speed limit.
6. HWP get a lot of expensive equipment, a powerful,fast vehicle and are generally always 1st to serious crimes as they have the tools to do it.
7. It is a job with heaps of action.
8. Police are the good guys.
9. In my time, I have seen a lot of people dead and/or dying in front of me, ripped open from injuries which is cemented in my mind. To me being a Police officer has a purpose.

Until you see what the job is really like, you are only talking about something you know nothing about.
sprae

There is no argument police officers are try to do their best to reduce fatalities. It’s state governments and certain higher statesmen looking to win more political points that is not helping the issue. Policies and laws are given to officer to follow and it’s their job to do so.

What I don’t find is fair is not every of revenue raised from fines, licensing and registration cost of motoring is given to fund better roads and driver training. Instead substantial amounts are funding “other” state projects.
http://bent Millatime

HWP officer

Mine was not an anti-police “rant” and overall I agree with your point’s 8 & 9. It must be incredibly traumatic dealing with road trauma, but I suppose that is somehow balanced by the lives saved.

However, there is no doubt in the publics perception that at times you are being employed as revenue raisers. It’s a serious issue, the fact that a large percentage of the public are losing respect for the police, and people are dying as you so rightly poiny out, due to government policy and inaction.

As Sprae says, you guy’s have to do as instructed, so you can thank the politicians for making your life harder.

And BTW, there certainly is quota’s on the number of breath tests to be performed in this state, and I didn’t mention anything about you guy’s being on commission.
Andrew

Millatime, while I agree with you that our roads deserve better and would benefit from proper maintenance… and while we all waiting for this to happen, would not it be wise to SLOW DOWN in order to mitigate “poor road design”, “poorly maintained roads” and the rest of your list?
http://bent Millatime

Andrew

I am not advocating speeding. I am highlighting that there are many other factors contributing to our unacceptably high road toll. The governments irresponsible fixation on speeding borders on criminal negligence while conveniently sweeping all other considerations from view, and not to mention keeps the Treasury cash registers very very busy.

My point is this, travelling at the speed limit does not guarantee your safety in any way, shape or form on Australian roads. All of us that get into a car accept the risks, but many will of us will die needlessly, needlessly, due to government inaction, or painfully slow action in addressing these other important areas of road safety.
Mick

1617 people died in 2007? That means 1 in 12000 people will die on our roads per year.

To be honest that is incredibly good, why does the governement and media constantly perpetuate that we have a problem?

Does Australia not have one of/if not not the lowest road toll percentage in the world?