With the approaching holiday period and warmer weather Australians will be criss-crossing the country in force to spend time with family and friends, meaning the roads will be busier and the potential for road safety issues soars.
Although plenty of industries around Australia will be shutting down over the Christmas and New Year period, the transport and logistics sector will keep trucking along to keep the country moving.
That increased road safety risk on the roads will be felt by the nation’s truck drivers, and Transport for NSW has issued a call to all those celebrating the holidays to make good decisions around drink driving in order to keep the roads as safe as possible.
The Plan B campaign will be running through December and January and will remind anyone planning on drinking with family and friends that finding strategies to get home safely needs to be part of the plan.
“Summer is a fantastic time of year in Australia and a time when we like to catch up with family, friends and work colleagues,” Transport for NSW Acting Regional Director West Holly Davies says.
“But it’s also a time when some people may be tempted to try their luck behind the wheel after a few drinks, and there is no surer way to ruin a good time out.
“We want people to make planning their trip home as much of a part of planning an afternoon or a night out as choosing where you’re going or what you’re wearing.”
17 per cent of all fatal crashes in NSW from 2018 to 2022 involved drink driving, with over 50 per cent of all alcohol related crashes in the same period occurring on country roads.
Part of Transport for NSW’s Plan B initiative includes the return of the ‘Win a Swag’ competition, where patrons at over 340 pubs, clubs and bottle shops across western NSW could win a swag worth roughly $250 simply by telling them their Plan B.
“This year will see the most venues we’ve ever had participating in the ‘Win a Swag’ initiative, which started in 2016 with a handful of pubs in Gilgandra and Mudgee and now extends right across the west region with a footprint from Lapstone Hill to Broken Hill,’ Davies says.
“The good news is we have seen a fall in the number of alcohol-related fatal crashes from 55 in 2019 to 35 in 2022, but there’s still a long way to go. We all have a role to play.”
With 2024 shaping up as one of the most fatal years on Australia’s roads in recent memory, it’s important for all road users to create a safe environment over the holiday period to ensure tragedy doesn’t strike at this special time of year.
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