A Transport for NSW and NSW Police road safety display at the Henty Machinery Field Days is set to have a strong focus on driver awareness around heavy vehicles.
Over 55,000 visitors are expected to attend the event, which runs from Tuesday 17 to Thursday 19 September, with the display coinciding with continued awareness around Rural Road Safety Month.
The display will include a long-nosed truck with cardboard cutouts positioned around it to help visitors appreciate the significant blind spots truck drivers must contend with while driving on our roads.
A patrol car and mobile drug testing van, level crossing model and motorcycle safety display will also be included in the display.
“We want drivers to understand the consequences of dangerous driving and make safe decisions when they get behind the wheel,” Transport for NSW Regional Director South Cassandra Ffrench says.
“We ask drivers to take the necessary precautions to ensure they, their passengers and other road users all make it home safe.”
Road crashes have claimed the lives of 239 people in NSW alone this year, with 158 of those taking place on country roads.
Too high a proportion of fatal road accidents in Australia happen on the nation’s rural and remote roads, given the comparatively small population percentage when compared to Australia’s metropolitan regions.
Commander of Traffic and Highway Patrol South West, Superintendent Robert Toynton urges all motorists to avoid dangerous driving in rural areas.
“We have seen an increase in road trauma over the last 12 months, with the number of crashes in rural areas particularly unacceptable,” Toynton says.
“Police enforce road rules to discourage irresponsible behaviour, however, at the end of the day it falls on all of us as individuals to follow through and take care on the roads.
“Speed limits and other road rules will only save lives if we follow them. Let’s make sure we all watch our own and each other’s behaviour so we can get home safely.”
2024 is the seventh iteration of Rural Road Safety Month, which is an initiative of the Australian Road Safety Foundation.
This year’s Rural Road Safety Month theme is ‘help sow the seeds of change, road safety starts with you’.
More details on the Henty Machinery Field Days can be found here.
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