Victorian road toll hits record low

VICTORIA has recorded its lowest number of road deaths since records began, but the state government says the 214 lives lost on the state’s roads in 2018 is still 214 too many.

Last year’s toll is 45 less than in 2017 and 29 fewer than the previous record low of 243 in 2013.

In the Barwon South West region, 20 lives were lost – five fewer than in 2017.

Labor says its $1.4-billion four-year Towards Zero Action Plan reached the halfway mark in 2018 and aims to reduce the number of lives lost on our roads to fewer than 200 by 2020.

A notable trend from the past year has been the reduction in the deaths on high-speed regional roads.

Regional roads claimed the most lives in 2017, with 156 deaths but that number dropped to 108 in 2018.

However, Labor says country people are still overrepresented in road deaths, so it is continuing to invest

in road safety infrastructure on the state’s highestrisk roads, including the rollout of flexible safety barriers, which are reducing the severity of crashes and saving lives.

About 1500 kilometres of barriers were rolled out, thousands of barrier hits were recorded across the state, and there was a steep reduction in deaths on high-speed regional roads in 2018.

Overall, 38 pedestrians died across Victoria last year, seven more than in 2017. These deaths mainly occurred in built-up areas.

Seven cyclists lost their lives in Victorian road crashes last year, down from 12 deaths in 2017.

Young driver deaths (aged 18 to 25) reduced dramatically in 2018, with 14 deaths compared with 31 in 2017.

“Any reduction in the number of people dying on our roads is welcome but the fact remains that hundreds of Victorian families will start 2019 without loved ones – we have to do more and that’s why the Andrews Labor Government will continue to invest in the things that we know save lives on our roads,” Minister for Roads, Road Safety and the Transport Accident Commission Jaala Pulford said.

“While this result indicates that Victoria is moving in the right direction with our approach to road safety, it is of no comfort to the families and friends of the people who died on our roads last year.