WIRE rope barriers have helped reduce the road toll to record lows, authorities say.
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Victoria’s road toll of 2018 was 214. This compared to 259 in 2017 and the previous record low of 243 in 2013.
There were six deaths in the Greater Bendigo local council area, three in Mount Alexander and more in other parts of the central Victorian region, according to Transport Accident Commission data.
Despite record lows Victoria Police’s head of road policing operations John Fitzpatrick said it was no time to celebrate, saying there were still to many fatalities on Victorian roads.
“We need to remember that we’re talking about people whose lives have been tragically cut short and families who have lost loved ones. One life lost is one too many,” he said.
“We need to get this to under 200 by 2020. If we keep working as a partnership (with road agencies and the government) we will do that. We want to have that number at zero in the very near future.”
Minister for roads Jaala Pulford said the biggest drops in the toll came in the country.
She said there were 52 lives lost when cars had run off country roads, down from 71 last year.
There were 21 head on collisions, down from 29, Ms Pulford said.
Superintendent Fitzpatrick attributed the reduction to measures including driver education and enforcement, a 50 per cent increase in drug testing and wire median barriers.
Ms Pulford said 1500km of wire role barriers had now been rolled out in Victoria, with another 500km to be installed over 2019.
The barriers have proven controversial, with motorcyclists among those leading calls against their rollout on country roads.
The Motorcycle Riders Association’s Damien Codognotto was involved in Bendigo protests in 2018
On Tuesday he said road authorities’ opinions on wire rope barriers were not based in science, arguing Victoria Police and road authority crash data often did not include barrier type, or whether one was a factor.
Mr Codognotto said there could be a range of reasons for the reduction in fatalities, including education campaigns about mobile phone distractions, drier weather and potentially changes in traffic flows on some roads.
“You can also certainly say vehicles in the private fleet over the last five years have improved,” he said, noting people were buying new cars with better safety features.
Ms Pulford said the evidence showed wire rope barriers were saving lives and that the initiative, which started in 2016, should continue.
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