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Friday September 3, 2010

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Reduce Road Toll

Posted by: 4bc.com.au | 5 May, 2009 - 1:36 PM
rage

Following the tragedies at the weekend, the Premier has suggested we all “drive more carefully and more safely”. Drive more carefully and more safely? That, Premier, is exactly what the innocent people are doing who are being killed and maimed by those who don’t drive carefully and safely. And, frankly, I think the Government needs to do a lot better than just suggest we “drive more carefully and safely”.

If you had one idea – just one (which is more than we’ve heard from the Government on this) to prevent the type of tragedies we saw on the weekend, let me know. One idea – could make the difference.

Mine would be to run a campaign around the slogan “Driving is a right… it’s also a responsibility. Drive responsibly or lose the right”. I would then support that campaign with tougher licensing practices, more stringent testing and tougher punishments to act as a deterrent. That’s my thought… but I’d like to hear yours. Just ONE thought that might reduce these horrible accidents that destroy so many lives and families.

The Premier says we must drive more carefully and safely.  Well, of course we should, but what would help to make that happen? Let me know.

(Note: We will send a letter collating listener suggestions on this matter to the Transport Minister.)

Greg Cary took calls this morning on how to reduce the road toll, here’s what our listeners had to say.

Vicki – Boondall – lift driving age to 18 and drinking age to 21
Elsa – Atherton Tablelands – make defensive driving courses compulsory for all trainee drivers
Paul – Belmont – more law enforcement visibility on the roads
John – Bundaberg – change the licensing laws because parents/guardians have the ability to lie about the 100hours experience (easier to sign a log book than drive with your teen for 100 hours)
Brett – Woodford – if you get busted drink driving then you should not be allowed to go anywhere that serves alcohol for 6 months (ie: pubs/bars/restaurants/licensed premises… even the local football)
Barbara – Cashmere – make driver-safety a compulsory class in school (from primary school)
Barry – Gympie – do a survey to find out who taught accident victims to drive (audit all accidents) and change testing to include highway testing

Blog comments Your Say

  • I may be an old f--t but when I was a kid in Gympie the drinking age was 21 and the roads we had to drive on were a damn sight worse than they are today and a lot of them gravel. We learnt how to get out of a skid and drove defensively on the bush roads. The cars weren't as fast nor were there as many. Raise the drinking age back to 21 and put a curfew on P platers.

    Sandy Friday 5 June, 2009 - 11:04 AM

  • The Road Toll...is this the only name we can give all these People that have tradgically passed away on our roads..i would personally say its not fair at all..My 35 yo old brother Troy Taylor was taken from us when he lost control of his harley at cooper plains on 11/5/2009...whether he was driving recklessly or not..he is another one gone..and all these people have a right to be remembered other than just another fatality on the roads..how about erecting billboards that have a picture of the victim..a picture of the crash..and a safe driving message..even just a tribute so everyone that drives past wont just say"someone died there"..so they know his name.know there story..and think to drive safely..it may be just one picture that will make ppl realise how quickly our mistakes can turn into tragedy...we see how many"want longer lasting sex" billboards..why not advertise for for safe driving whilst holding tribute to the ones who have passed on our roads..i would love to petition for this to happen...and i am in the slow motions of organizing it.we can make excuses and say..dont speed..dont drink and drive..in the end it is totally up to the driver to be responsible..if one image seen while driving home can change there attitude in driving..i think why not try.

    Jodi Taylor Saturday 16 May, 2009 - 2:50 PM

  • G'day,

    Many people call for better roads and everyone who has to pay their vehicle ownership tax should ask Main Roads “why is it that the only halfway decent roads in Queensland are either federally funded or toll roads?”

    Also ask “why is the standard and durability of these federally funded in Queensland well below that of similarly funded roads in NSW and Victoria?”

    The grading of the substrate is sub standard (cheap?) and the road base compaction is also below par. This information comes from a retired roller operator, a retired grader operator th seat-of-the-pants knowledge gained from driving roads such as the M (only) in the Qld side, the Princess Hwy. over in NSW as well as the luxurious experience of driving the Hume in Victoria.

    If you do ask Main Roads these questions, be prepared for a 9 month delay, (which involved the federal members office when it was liberal) only to receive a letter telling you the extent of the road network in Queensland and how registration doesn't cover the maintenance of these ”state roads”.
    This strikes me as an admission that the Queensland government cuts corners on the federally funded roads and diverts the remaining fund into its own (almost non-existent) maintenance programme. Bear in min, mush of the Queensland road network is owned and maintained by local government.

    Best Regards,
    Royce R. Vines

    An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind.
    -M.K. Gandhi

    Royce R. Vines Monday 11 May, 2009 - 4:20 PM

  • Many people, including the government have place much faith in surveys and statistical analysis.

    However, statisticians will always do surveys that support their own preconceived ideas. Like lawyers, they never ask a question that they do not know the answer to. Surprisingly, they rarely make the raw data available for outside analysis. Qld Tpt is notorious for this. THey expect the public to "trust" them. QT make some data available for their Safe Roads 2004 brochure. These figures showed that "speed" CAUSES less that 4% of serious crashes. They never released comparable figures since. THey just say thay "speed" a contributing factor in 27% of serious crashes. They later admitted that this figure was 22% when their inaccuracies were pointed out to them.

    Royce R. Vines Thursday 7 May, 2009 - 4:54 PM

  • Every time a tragedy occurs, everyone says the same old things, higher driving age, more fines, harsher penalties, more restrictions. This approach has been going on for years and with our death toll still climbing is obviously not working at all. People need to start looking at the source of the problem. restricting driving more is not the answer, i know plenty of people who are awkward and uncomfortable just driving normally, and if they ever get in a dangerous situation they make all the wrong moves, simply because they don't have the required experience to know how to respond to the situation.

    i had the luxury of learning to drive at an early age because i grew up on a farm, my father began teaching me to drive at an early age and by the time i was 6 (and could finally reach the pedals comfortably) i was quite happily driving solo around the private roads that connected the houses in my area to the public road. So by the time i was 16 and going for my L plates i had already been driving a car for 10 years and could focus on learning how to drive safely rather than just struggling to drive the car.

    More emphasis has to be put on driver training, mabye even introductory courses before Young people are even old enough to drive legally on the road.

    *continued in the next post*

    dave Thursday 7 May, 2009 - 9:31 AM

  • I am 23 now, and i have never been involved in an accident while i was driving, and i am no special case, i was quite a reckless driver in my younger days, but i managed to avoid ever having an accident, because if i ever was put in a dangerous situation, either by my own fault or the fault of another driver, i knew how to respond to the situation straight away. On more than one occasion, i believe i have avoided accidents that were not my fault, and would have resulted in death or serious injury for me and the driver at fault.

    i am not encouraging reckless driving, but there will always be young people pushing their limits, its part of developing the brain so that they know where their limits are and is an integral part of the learning process, if we can help young people to learn their limits in a safer environment and teach them pro-active driving techniques that will enable them to prevent and or respond to any dangerous situation they are put in we might finally see a slowing of the death toll.

    Dave Thursday 7 May, 2009 - 9:29 AM

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