Focus on safe driving to avoid tragedy as we welcome the chance to catch up with family

LIKE many Victorians, I am looking forward to catching up with family and friends in person as the state opens up.

There’s a lot to catch up on – missed birthdays, births, new jobs, new pets – and I am also relishing the opportunity to take my family on road trips to enjoy the amazing sights and experiences our state has to offer.

As I reflect on my role as Road Safety Minister, I am also mindful there are millions more like me, ready to hit the road to visit loved ones or simply take a break.

The harsh reality is that this sudden boost in traffic increases the risk of trauma happening on our roads.

One of the hardest parts of my job is being notified each time someone loses their life on our roads.

Sadly, historical data shows us dozens of Victorians will be either seriously injured or die in a crash between now and Christmas.

It is a sombre thought, but as we have done to protect our community from Covid-19, we can all do something about preventing road trauma.

One of the silver linings of this extraordinarily difficult time we have lived through in the past 20 months has been seeing the way people have dropped everything to prioritise health and safety.

We have seen unbelievable sacrifice and discipline across the community in response to the pandemic, which has saved many lives and protected our health system.

Now, as we are getting vaccinated at record rates, opening up and coming together again, prioritising health and safety will be as important as it has ever been.

And we need that care and discipline to translate to the way we use the roads.

Every year, accidents on our roads are one of the top three leading causes of death and injury among people under 45, and road trauma is the leading cause of death among children aged 1-14.

In the past decade in Victoria, almost 3000 people have died and a further 70,000 have ended up in hospital because of accidents on our roads.

But this level of trauma doesn’t have to continue.

We can save many of these lives and prevent many of these injuries if we prioritise health and safety on our roads, like we have across our community this year and last.

The Geelong Advertiser has a long history of supporting the road safety cause in Victoria, and I am grateful that the paper is again showing its dedication to saving local lives.

With the Transport Accident Commission calling Geelong home for the past decade, supporting injured Victorians and striving to

make our roads safer, a lot of our work to eliminate road trauma is being done here.

Working with the community to encourage safe driving and riding is a key part of the state government’s Victorian road safety strategy 2021-2030.

It aims to halve road deaths by 2030 and put us on a strong path to eliminate all road deaths by 2050 – an ambitious target that was recently adopted by the

World Health Organisation.

There is a long way to go to reach that goal.

This year, 216 people have already lost their lives on Victorian roads – almost

10 per cent higher than at the same time last year.

It has been a particularly tragic year so far on Greater Geelong’s roads, where we have lost 15 people to road trauma.

These are needless tragedies that are more than numbers – they are partners, family, friends, colleagues, teammates. And this does not paint the full picture of road trauma.

For every life lost on Geelong roads in the past decade, more than 30 people have been hospitalised as a result of a crash.

That’s more than 3000 people treated in hospital due to road in trauma in the past 10 years.

Sadly, in some cases, people suffer life-changing injuries, such as an acquired brain injury or paraplegia, and will require support from the TAC for the rest of their lives, not to mention the ripple effect on loved ones.

So, as we emerge from the restrictions that have kept us safe and go out and see our loved ones, we must ensure our attention is firmly placed on health and safety in all facets of life.

We talk about taking pressure off our frontline health workers and hospitals. Well, being safe on the roads is an action we can all take.