NTC says government can aim higher than a 30 percent reduction in road trauma incidents
By Ruza Zivkusic | February 22, 2011
The National Transport Commission (NTC) has urged the Federal Government to aim higher with its road safety targets in a submission to the National Road Safety Strategy draft.
NTC manager Jeff Potter believes the country can do better than the outlined 30 percent target in road trauma reduction.
“Australia has long been regarded as a leader in road safety and has achieved outcomes equal to or better than the majority of countries worldwide.
“However, despite a large reduction in road deaths over the past decade, we are no longer ranked among the 10 best performing nations internationally,” Potter says.
Although the majority of actions identified within the strategy have been allocated to the government, it is not always clear who is accountable for the funding, implementation and effectiveness of the initiatives, the NTC says.
“Clear accountability for the proposed actions is crucial to the success of the strategy,” Potter says.
“The strategy should also harness the potential of groups outside of government to improve road safety.
“We believe that transport operators, users and the wider community are capable of having a huge influence in improving the safety of our roads.”
The NTC says it strongly supports the adoption of safe system principles to underpin the strategy but would like to see the strategy’s vision better reflect the ethos by no accepting that death or serious injury in an inevitable consequence of using the road system.
“Nobody should have to die or be seriously injured on Australia’s roads,” Potter adds.
“The strategy is an important step in the right direction but further refinement of the strategy will strengthen its impact.”