Regional roads statistics worsen as state sees overall improvements in figures
Rural roads remain over-represented in the number of fatalities in Victoria, new road trauma data reveals.
The data shows that of the 155 people who died on Victoria’s rural roads last year, 109 were involved in a crash where a vehicle left its lane, with 72 lives lost in single-vehicle crashes on the roadside, and 37 deaths resulting from a head-on collision.
The figures were released by Roads and road safety minister Luke Donnellan, Transport Accident Commission (TAC) CEO Joe Calafiore and VicRoads acting CEO Peter Todd today.
The number of people killed on rural Victorian roads increased from 150 to 155 in 2017, while the overall fatalities figure for the state dropped from 290 in 2016 to 257 last year.
The data revealed that one in five serious injuries happened on high-speed regional roads, with run-off-road crashes being the major factor in regional road trauma rates across the state.
Roads and road safety minister Luke Donnellan says the state government’s plan to invest $1.1 billion towards road safety initiatives over five years (2016-2020) will help address this problem.
The investment is part of the Towards Zero Road Safety Strategy and Action Plan, which includes $340 million for infrastructure improvements on Victoria’s most high-risk rural roads.
“Drivers on country roads are four times more likely to be killed on our roads than drivers in the city,” Donnellan says.
“It’s simply unacceptable – that’s why we’re investing more than $1 billion to make our country roads safer.
“We’re investing in the things we know save lives on country roads, rolling out more than 2,000 kilometres of flexible safety barriers, thousands of kilometres of rumble strips as well as new turning and overtaking lanes.”
Flexible safety barriers have been proven to reduce run-off-road and head-on crashes by as much as 85 per cent, the government says.