Mandating proven low-cost safety technologies might help improve the situation, report says
The federal government must find a way to encourage the uptake of proven vehicle safety technologies and innovation to help reduce the number of accidents on Australian roads, an independent report has recommended.
The recommendation was one of 12 made following an independent inquiry into the National Road Safety Strategy (NRSS) 2011-20.
The report says that Australia needs a dramatic change in road safety management, predicting 12,000 people will die over the next decade if nothing is done to improve the current situation.
“Many safety aspects have not received sufficient focus or resources under the current National Road Safety Strategy,” the report says.
“There are flaws in accountability, the scale and source of funding, gap analysis, capacity building, change management, quality assurance, technology, insurance and organisational culture.”
It suggests reviewing the mandate of proven low-cost safety technologies in all new vehicles, such as auto emergency braking and electronic stability control (ESC), as one way of helping to fix the problem.
It cites the first call in 2011 by NSW deputy state coroner Carmel Forbes for the introduction of ESCs in vehicles used to transport dangerous goods, and its scheduled introduction for all new heavy vehicles by January 1, 2022.
“Had regulators acted immediately on the NSW Deputy Coroner’s recommendation and applied the current policy approach, it seems likely that more than 200 deaths and serious injuries could have been avoided,” the report says.
“The lag between new safety technologies arriving and a legal requirement that proven forms of these technologies be compulsory in new vehicles through the design rule process in Australia is unacceptable.”
“Every vehicle imported to Australia without high protective value and the new active low-cost safety technologies is an opportunity lost not only for today, but for the life of that vehicle, which may be 30 years or more,” the report says.
Other recommendations include adopting speed management initiatives more quickly and making deals with state, territory and local governments to eliminate high-risk roads more quickly.
It also urged the federal government to commit $3 billion to road safety annually from July 1, 2019, and to both appoint a Cabinet minister and develop a new national road safety body to lead a multi-agency approach to resolving road safety issues.
Federal transport minister Michael McCormack says the government will consider the report, adding that the response would be informed by discussions with state and territory ministers at the Transport and Infrastructure Council (TIC) meeting in November.
“This is a great contribution to the national road safety conversation from an inquiry initiated due to concerns the National Road Safety Strategy, which was jointly agreed by the federal, state and territory governments, was not on track to reach its 2020 targets,” he says.
“A bipartisan political approach now and into the future can only help to deliver better road safety outcomes and is one this government supports.”
The Australian Automobile Association (AAA) welcomes the report saying improvements have stalled and calling on the major political parties to prioritise road safety “urgently”.
Check out the AAA’s January comments about the NRSS here
AAA chief executive Michael Bradley says the report shows that current road safety strategies are not working, and that a transformative approach to road safety is required.
“The AAA agrees with the report’s argument that federal and state governments must deliver more leadership, more resources and a more intense focus to curb our road toll,” Bradley says.
“We will not make progress in improving road safety until out political leaders recognise this.”