Rockhampton Regional Council is proud to be supporting the Australian Road Safety Foundation (ARSF) in the drive to prevent road trauma during Rural Road Safety Month.
Mayor Tony Williams and Infrastructure Councillor Ellen Smith today signed a pledge for Rural Road Safety Month, showing their commitment to keeping our region’s roads safe.
With a staggering two in three road deaths occurring on regional roads, Mayor Williams believes that all Australians have a personal responsibility to choose road safety.
“Rural Road Safety Month is a national awareness campaign targeting regional and rural road safety, to make our roads safer for everyone,” Mayor Williams said.
“Rural road safety is a community issue and it is on us as a community to minimise the risk of crashes in order to save lives, which is why we are pledging our support to Rural Road Safety Month.
“Most people would assume that rural road safety only affects people who live regionally, but in fact, research tells us that personal travel and visiting friends and family are the top two reasons for driving on rural roads.
“High risk rural roads are used by almost all Australians – 94% – at least once a year.
“Everyone, regardless of where you live or work, should take this opportunity as a reminder to be cautious and alert when driving on rural roads.”
Echoing the sentiment, Councillor Ellen Smith said it’s imperative that drivers are aware of the different conditions rural roads can have.
“Within the Rockhampton Region we have a significant amount of rural roads with 1109km of unsealed roads and 870km of sealed roads,” Cr Smith said.
“Unfortunately we have had several fatalities on both our sealed and unsealed roads over the years which is devastating for our community.
“It’s especially concerning for young drivers who are driving on rural roads for the first time, and who can often come undone because they don’t have experience driving on those roads.
“Being aware and cautious of the different conditions can really reduce avoidable accidents.”
ARSF Founder and CEO Russell White said three in 10 Australians are taking additional risks in regional areas because they wrongly think it’s safe, or that they won’t get caught.
“The risks being taken are choices. It just really goes to show that empowering more people to choose road safety is going to have the biggest impact on reducing the tragic loss of life and serious injury on our roads,” he said.
“We want to stress the importance of choosing good driving behaviours in all conditions faced on rural roads.
“Driving on rural roads can be very different than in the suburbs or capital cities – you need to adapt, be alert and drive to the conditions.”
