By way of a local comparison Baw Baw rates 16th with 15 deaths, Wellington 22nd with 13 deaths and so on etc. A total of 725 deaths of young people. 18 to 20 years of age, and 21 to 25 years amounts to the highest number of lives lost.
To be exact: Up to 4yrs = 37, 5-15yrs = 65, 16-17yrs = 70, 18-20yrs = 252, 21-25yrs = 301.
Are we doing enough, in my view NO. I have written on this subject before and make no apology for doing it again. These deaths are avoidable, we can and must reduce the toll.
Some simple statements,
- Roads do not cause accidents - they are inanimate objects.
- Cars do not cause accidents - they too are inanimate objects.
- Weather does not cause accidents - it is simply an aspect of nature.
DRIVERS cause accidents when they fail to obey basic rules of operation of a vehicle and use of roads.
Driving a vehicle requires some form of system and control. It can be expressed as; “A system of car control each feature of which is to be considered by the driver at the approach to any hazard. A hazard is any circumstance or circumstances which causes the driver to alter course or speed and calls for all or part of the system of car control to be brought into operation.”
The powers that be can provide such rhetoric as
- “Safer vehicles a key part of road toll strategy” - Safer drivers would be even better
- “Government vehicles are fitted with best available safety features” – We don’t all drive government vehicles
- “Safety features save lives” - But can the younger driver afford the cars with them.
- “Cars over 10 years old account for most fatal accidents with young drivers.” – So we must improve their ability to drive those cars.
You can put up as many road safety barriers as you like, improve the road surface for as long as you like, provide as much technology as you can to any vehicle, but ultimately the DRIVER is the one who calls the tune and makes the mistakes, yes mistakes not accidents. Accidents are the results of the mistakes
Unless we come to terms that education and training of our drivers will, in the long term, reduce the road toll, it will continue to devastate families, communities and be a blot on our lifestyle.
I am not against any advances in technology, not against any improvements to roads and road infrastructure, but see plain and simple that experience is the key, it comes with real time experiences, time behind the wheel, and early years progressive driver training.
Successive governments at all levels seem hell bent of spending in the short term, and improvements they make have an effect, but until we start a long term campaign to provide our young people with those experiences behind the wheel, provide those invaluable hours of driving in all conditions whilst supervised, and allow them to feel, to experience what it is like to skid and lose control whilst in a safe and controlled environment, and whilst under trained supervision, we will never succeed to improve the overall driver ability on our roads.
A start was made with the introduction of the 120 hours of required driving in order to obtain P plates, and, I was proud to be part of that inception by way of instigating a volunteer supervising driver scheme. That was nearly 20 years ago. Have we advanced in young driver education?
In some ways a little, but opportunities for young people to experience and learn from some of the more unusual aspects of car control are very limited. One such facility is the Gippsland Motorplex at the Bairnsdale Dragway, where, under the guidance and training of professional educators, our young drivers are subjected to such vital training.
Funding of this facility has by all accounts, been successively ignored by government at all levels. Lip service is paid and letters written by no dollars forthcoming. The complex is operated by volunteers and funds are derived from private donations and support. Perhaps its existence and operation is misunderstood, time then for our politicians to make a visit and learn. They may even improve their own driver ability.
With East Gippsland having such a high level of road deaths and injuries amoung our young people, we should, no we MUST do more. Inroads have been made in the last few years but more needs to be done. The complex needs to be upgraded and should be a multi-faceted facility not only catering for driver training at all ages and levels but also providing a varied motor-sport outlet for all drivers of all ages. Here is a real time opportunity to do something effective in the long term.
I challenge our politicians at all government levels to make a visit, to go through a driver training experience at Gippsland Motorplex, to increase their own driver ability (it is never too late to learn) and to put some cold hard cash behind this necessary driver training complex. It will save lives.
John Munns Aug 2018
further reading/media:
RACV Magazine Feb 2018
SBS Ch 32 Jul 19th 2017 (1 million views +)
johnmunns.blogspot.com.au 22 Jan 2018
Nine Digital P/L: (Kate Kachor) Jan 2018.
Sources: Herald –Sun - Aug 29th 2018
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