Road toll wake-up call for motorists
SOMETHING dramatic has changed on our roads this year, and no one quite knows what it is.
But it is a most concerning trend that needs to be stopped.
According to the Transport Accident Commission, Victoria’s road toll for 2019 is 163.
At the same time last year the figure was 104.
Neither number is welcome. Together, they represent hundreds of lives lost, tragically and without warning, and many hundreds more affected by grief and trauma.
But last year’s number was encouraging, because the trend seemed to be going down.
By the end of 2018 Victoria’s road toll was the lowest it had been in more than three decades. The logical conclusion being drawn was that drivers were heeding road safety messages and taking greater caution behind the wheel.
Now, it looks as though the opposite is true. Fatalities are up a 56.7 per cent on the same time last year, and at their highest mark in five years.
The trend is evident here in Geelong, particularly on the northern suburbs thoroughfare Thompson Rd.
Four people have died in the past five months on the stretch from Hamlyn Heights to Bell Park just 2.5km away.
But this is not a simple aberration or a quirk of coincidence. Police say the road has featured, on average, two serious crashes each month for the past year. Earlier this week there was another major bingle that left people hurt, but, thankfully, not dead.
Traders and pedestrians who know Thompson Rd well are alarmed but, sadly, not surprised. They told the Addy yesterday it was common to see drivers speeding on the road and distracted from their duties.
It is time for those drivers to wake up, and comprehend the potentially fatal consequences of their actions.