Road safety strategy must be implemented
18 October 2010
A coalition of 16 respected organisations, coordinated by the RAC, have banded together to call for the implementation of the State’s Towards Zero Road Safety Strategy.
The group of industry associations, employer groups, trade unions, local governments, health experts, academics, road user groups and road safety researchers has placed a full page advertisement in today’s West Australian which states:
“Almost 2,000 people have lost their lives on Western Australian roads in the past decade. Thousands more have been seriously or permanently injured. It’s time to act to end this suffering.
“We support the implementation of the Towards Zero Road Safety Strategy.”The advertisement coincides with a meeting today of the Ministerial Council on Road Safety.
RAC Head of Member Advocacy Matt Brown said the Towards Zero strategy had strong support across the community.
“The Towards Zero road safety strategy was handed to government more than two years ago but remains unfunded,” Mr Brown said.
“We want the government to understand that road safety is an important issue for the Western Australian community.
“Too many people are being killed or injured on our roads, inflicting an appalling human cost on our community. Road trauma also places an enormous burden on our economy and our health system.
“We are simply urging the government to respond to this community concern and at least make a start on implementing the programs of Towards Zero. It will take more than a decade to turn around our road safety problem but if we don’t start somewhere it will never happen.”
The organisations supporting the call for Towards Zero to be implemented are:
| Chamber of Commerce & Industry |
Chamber of Minerals & Energy |
| Australian Medical Association (WA) |
Motor Trades Association |
| Unions WA |
Transport Workers Union |
| WA Local Government Association |
Injury Control Council of WA |
| Public Health Advocacy Institute of WA |
Motorcycle Riders Association |
| Curtin-Monash Accident Research Centre |
Public Health Association |
| Paraplegic Benefits Fund |
Bicycling WA |
| Bicycle Transportation Alliance |
RAC |
Download the release (pdf)