Back in the early 1980s when I worked at the old Melbourne Sun News Pic (un-hyphenated), I became heavily involved in road safety campaigns.

The Sun had turned the world on its head with the Declare War on 1034 campaign and its no-holds-barred photographic coverage of what was going on on our roads.

People hated it. Crikey, a news organisation runs a picture of a baby lamb hurt in a truck rollover these days and the phones and letters columns run hot. The old Currant Bun showed arms and legs hanging out of late-night wrecks.

But it was important. We knew that. We committed to it and wouldn’t let the public avert its horrified gaze. I was thinking about that today while reading comments on the horror and outrage of a Victorian road death toll of around 250 a year.

Think of 1034. (It was actually 1061 in 1970) But it was much, much worse than simple maths might indicate. It wasn’t simply 1034 deaths then, and 250 now.

The true improvement in road safety in Victoria is many times more impressive than even that remarkable figure.

In 1970 there were less cars and less people doing less kilometres. The true death rate then was about 4.4 deaths for every 100 million kilometres travelled on our roads. The latest figure is around 0.4 deaths for every 100 million kilometres travelled.

If we had the same the same deaths/kilometres travelled now as in 1970, our true comparative death toll would now be 2,750 deaths per year. 

Put it the other way. If Victoria had had the same levels of vehicle and road safety, same policing and same media in 1970 that we have now, the toll in 1970 would have been 96, not 1061.

What started with The Sun and was taken up by governments, authorities and the motoring public means possibly as many as 40,000 premature Victorian deaths were avoided. 

It was a potent combination of an angry media, a motivated and brave state government (people hated compulsory seat belts at first), truth, and an automotive industry which was made to realise its products were death traps. In hindsight, it was all so real and so hands-on.

In looking up some of this data, I was surprised to find out we are four years into the United Nation’s Decade of Action for Road Safety. I wondered why I didn’t know that, until I read:

“The UN Road Safety Collaboration has developed a Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020 with input from many partners through an extensive consultation process through meetings and the Internet. The Plan provides an overall framework for activities which may take place in the context of the Decade…”

Ummm, yep, right. I tried to open one of the UN’s campaign pages: it wasn’t available just now.