Growing road toll an issue for us all

NEW figures in the Addy today show how our road toll is taking its toll on our young.

More than one in three of all passengers injured in our car crashes are under the age of 18.

The TAC figures should ring alarm bells for parents of any teen to make sure they take care on our roads.

As TAC boss Janet Dore says, passengers can often distract younger drivers and that’s when the trouble starts.

‘‘Our message for young people is please slow down, stick within the speed limit and remember you have a responsibility to look after your mates,’’ she says.

‘‘ Speak out when you know somebody is putting yours or somebody else’s life at risk.’’

What really is surprising is that in Geelong we are seeing one of our safest age brackets creeping into the danger zone, with 40 to 59-year-old drivers now the most likely to be in an accident — making up 27 per cent of all claims by injured drivers.

Surely this is the age when drivers are starting to act more responsibly.

We would welcome more research into this growing trend — we need to know why middle-aged drivers are most at risk.

While we wait for those answers, the lesson from these statistics is we really must, as drivers and passengers, do more to keep ourselves safe on the roads.