Under-resourcing behind f ive-year road toll rise?

As the road toll continues to climb police have taken aim at the underresourcing of road policing.

The police 2017/18 annual report shows fatal and serious injury crashes have increased steadily for the past five years – from 253 (4.2 people per 10,000) in 2013 to 378 (5.7 per 10,000) in 2017.

Pointedly, that final figure is accompanied by a footnote in the report – it reads:

‘‘Due to increased demand in other priority areas there has been less than desirable resource levels available for road policing activities in the 2017/18 year.’’

In 2016 the government cut 111 officers from the road policing teams. It represented an 8 per cent reduction to the then 1353 dedicated road policing positions.

As a result, police said they had no choice but to re-assign those roading positions to other areas of policing.

Police minister Stuart Nash said he agreed with the report that staffing was ‘‘less than desirable’’ and that was part of the reason the coalition had agreed to the roll-out of 1800 extra police.

With the staffing boost Nash said by default there would be more police on the roads and there would be an emphasis on getting more patrols in to rural and provincial areas.

‘‘The more police we have out there the bigger difference it will make to the road toll – but it’s certainly not a silver bullet.’’

Drunk or drugged driving, fatigue, speed and not wearing restraints were the main factors behind road deaths and injuries, which were all ultimately down to driver responsibility. ‘‘We’re going to work incredibly hard to reduce the road toll,’’ Nash said.

In August the Government announced a $4.3 billion package to reduce deaths and injuries on the roads through a programme of median safety barrier, roadside barrier and rumble strip instalments as part of its target of a year-on-year reduction to the road toll.

Late last year, in a letter sent to Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter, police officer Jon Armstrong said morale among uniformed front-line officers of the road policing team and motorway teams was at an ‘‘all-time low’’.

Officers were suffering from depression and taking sick leave due to stress, he said.

Police Association president Chris Cahill said under-resourcing could certainly be a factor in the rising road toll but other variables such as more vehicles doing more kilometres must also be taken in to consideration. Cahill said the introduction of 1800 new police should have an effect but acknowledged road policing and motorway teams had been under stress.

National road policing manager Superintendent Steve Greally said stress had eased and the issues raised by Armstrong were now behind his team, which as of July 1 was back to its full complement of 1070 staff.

While a bigger police presence on roads could help reduce the road toll, it was just part of the equation – driver responsibility was crucial but was ‘‘the one thing most people don’t want to talk about’’.

‘‘Most people on our roads do a damn good job, we’re talking about high stakes that mean human lives,’’ Greally said.

Road safety campaigner Clive Matthew-Wilson said police underresourcing probably had a significant effect on the road toll.

Rural districts tended to have the lowest number of police and the highest number of accidents.

‘‘It’s a combination of older cars, poorly designed roads and drivers with a casual attitude to health and safety.’’