Great Southern road safety record going backwards

The Great Southern has suffered its worst road toll in at least seven years with 32 people dying on local roads throughout 2016, prompting calls from RAC for a renewed focus on delivering the State’s road safety strategy Towards Zero.

RAC General Manager Corporate Affairs, Will Golsby, said the region’s road toll had more than tripled from 10 in 2010 to 32 fatalities last year, despite the Towards Zero strategy being signed in 2009. 

“Every life lost on WA roads is one too many and each has a lasting ripple effect in the community. Last year the impact of road trauma was devastating for the Great Southern, and the wider Western Australian community,” Mr Golsby said. 

“It’s clear that leading in to the State election in March both the State Government and the Opposition need to act immediately and re-evaluate their approach to the Towards Zero road safety strategy if we are to reach the strategy’s target of 40 per cent fewer deaths by 2020.”  

A preliminary count shows, shockingly, the Great Southern’s road toll more than doubled in 2016, compared to the 12 lives lost in 2015.  

This dramatic rise in Great Southern road deaths is echoed in the State’s road toll, with 194 people killed on WA roads in 2016 – 33 more than WA’s 2015 total. 

The higher State road toll is largely attributable to both an increase in deaths on regional roads and motorcyclist fatalities.

“Road fatalities in regional WA remain unacceptably high. The Great Southern, Wheatbelt and South West all performed poorly, and the Great Southern’s fatality rate remains more than five times higher than the State rate of 7.36,” Mr Golsby said.  

“On top of that, Western Australia’s fatality rate is once again higher than the national average, and we continue to lag behind leading States Victoria and New South Wales.

“As a community we cannot continue to be complacent, we can and need to do more to stop fatalities and serious injuries on our roads.” 

The latest Annual Report released by the Road Safety Commission identified that $95 million remained unspent in the Road Trauma Trust Account. This funding is available for road safety initiatives across Western Australia.

Figures at a glance

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