A road safety expert says a national plan to save lives has failed and will fall significantly short of a “conservative” 10-year target to cut Australia’s road toll.
The National Road Safety Strategy in 2010 set out to reduce death and serious injuries on Australia’s roads – aiming to cut the total number by 30 per cent by 2020.
But co-chair of a review of the strategy and chair of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons’ Trauma committee Dr John Crozier says the nation won’t make that target.
His comments came after a horror holiday season on Australia’s roads in which 28 people lost their lives in NSW alone.
“It’s a tragedy this Christmas to see repeated the toll in terms of lives lost and serious injury on our roads, (a) significant uptick in that,” Dr Crozier told ABC Radio on Friday.
“We will probably be in breach by at least 10 per cent of that very, very conservative target that was set back in 2010.”
The inquiry into the progress of the strategy is due to release its final report in April.
