Several international and Australian road safety experts as well as federal and state stakeholders will come together for a road safety forum in Sydney.
Hosted by the New South Wales Government, the forum aims to address the increasing road toll across Australian jurisdictions, especially in regional areas where two-thirds of the state’s road fatalities occur.
Minister for Roads, John Graham, emphasized the government’s focus on improving road safety.
“The road toll has increased across Australia and many parts of the world after COVID. This forum is an opportunity to hear from experts who have had some success in reducing the road toll and identify new measures and actions from the Road Safety Plan that could be accelerated,” he said.
“In 2023, NSW lost 351 lives on its roads, prompting a resounding call from the government for individuals to prioritize safe driving in 2024,” he added.
On the other hand, Minister for Regional Roads, Jenny Aitchison, highlighted the disproportionate impact on regional areas.
“While one-third of our population lives in regional NSW, over two-thirds of fatalities (70%) occur on regional roads,” she said.
Aitchison urged community involvement, particularly in regional areas, for the government’s road safety initiatives to succeed. The forum will facilitate discussions on strengthening road safety enforcement and addressing unsafe road user behavior.
Meanwhile, Senator Carol Brown, Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, expressed her anticipation for the discussions at the forum. She also emphasized that road safety is a collective responsibility.
“The National Road Safety Conference has been convened to bring together road safety ministers and police ministers from across the country to engage on the worrying trends we are seeing on our roads,” she said
The outcomes of the forum will feed into the National Road Safety Conference. The conference will engage road safety and police ministers about the road safety trends in the country.
The forum set to happen on Thursday 22 February 2024.
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