Road trauma is one of the major public health problems facing this country. Last year 1,509 people died on our roads. The Bureau of Infrastructure Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE) report on the Cost of Road Crashes in Australia 2006 estimates that road crashes cost the community nearly $18 billion in 2006, equivalent to 1.7 per cent of GDP. There were an estimated 653 853 road crashes in 2006 involving 1.16 million vehicles resulting in the loss of 1602 lives. These are shocking statistics, but what they do not reflect is the personal pain and injury experienced by the people directly involved and their families and friends. The number of deaths on our roads is only part of the problem. The latest hospitalisation figures show that nearly 33,000 people were seriously injured in crashes during 2006-07. Many of these people are now living with severe and life-long injuries. Sadly, these figures have been trending upwards for several years. Road trauma disproportionately affects young, healthy Australians. About 30% of those killed and 37% of those hospitalised in road crashes are under 25 years old. We have all seen the images in our papers and on our TV screens. The roadside memorials are a daily reminder. Indeed, it is sobering to think that school children today are unlikely to reach the age of 25 without at least one of their former classmates being killed or seriously injured on our roads. Much good work has been achieved over the last 40 years to make our roads safer. According to BITRE, annual road deaths have dropped from a peak of 3798 in 1970 to an average of around 1640 between 2000 and 2008, even though the number of vehicles on Australian roads has more than tripled in that time. Tougher laws and better policing targeting speeding and drink driving, improved driver training, better road design, extensive education campaigns and new vehicle technologies have all contributed to a large reduction in the frequency, severity and economic cost of road crashes over recent decades.
Local Government and Road Safety
2010
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
Unknown
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