ROAD SAFETY IS ALWAYS CRITICAL

WHILE the coronavirus pandemic has killed 13 people in Tasmania, on average 32 people die on our state’s roads every year. Let those numbers sink in for a minute.

To avoid death via Covid-19 we have closed our state borders, worn masks, stayed at home, shuttered our businesses, pulled the kids out of schools, allowed our every movement to be tracked and traced, and rolled up our sleeves to get vaccinated.

Why is it then that we fail to obey some very basic safety measures while travelling on our roads?

The road toll on Tasmanian roads is higher than the national average and in too many instances these tragedies could have been avoided.

During the May election campaign, the RACT called on the state government to follow other states in introducing new stationary cameras that can catch motorists who are distracted behind the wheel.

Now it looks as though the government is supportive of the move, with the Department of State Growth searching for an operator for an automated traffic offence and enforcement program. Initially targeting speeding motorists, the program could also be used to catch those using their mobile phone while driving.

Any new technology such as this or blitzes on speeding drivers are often condemned as the government simply trying to revenue-raise rather than save lives.

But what those who complain of being slapped with a fine for breaking speed limits often forget is that they are committing a crime, they are breaking a law and in doing so they increase their chances of hurting themselves or others on the road.

There is no doubt that speed kills – yet more than 6000 speeding drivers are already caught in the state each year by fixed speed cameras.

And distracted driving is just as bad – yet so much of that behaviour goes unchecked but for actual police patrols who happen upon offenders.

When lives are lost on the road the misery extends so much further than that of the individual injured or killed. Families lose a loved one, first responders find themselves picking through the twisted wreckage witnessing scenes that can leave them traumatised.

Many Mercury reporters and photographers have been on the scene at one of these tragedies or sat at the kitchen tables of families who have lost someone on the roads.

Those experiences haunt them and it’s for that reason we take very seriously the issue of road safety and any supplementary measures the government can put in place to stop people carrying out the reckless behaviours that can cost lives.