Taking aim at road deaths

VICTORIA will today join the rest of the world in launching the Decade of Action for Road Safety.
The campaign aims to reduce road trauma on the world’s roads, particularly trauma suffered by young people in the 18-25 demographic.
Road trauma remains the number one cause of death for young people across the globe, with one person killed or seriously injured on the world’s roads every six seconds.
Last Wednesday, Victoria’s key road safety agencies joined together to support the Decade of Action which aims to stabilise and then reduce the forecast level of road traffic fatalities around the world by 2020.
TAC’s head of community relations Phil Reed said that Victoria has led the world in road safety for a number of decades through the introduction of a number of life-saving policies.
“From the 1960s when we introduced seatbelt legislation, to the introduction of drink driving and most recently the mandating of Electronic Stability Control (ESC) in all new vehicles, Victoria has been at the forefront of road safety,” Mr Reed said.
But he reminded individuals that it comes back to the community to take ownership of the problem.
“We want every Victorian to commit to supporting the Decade of Action for Road Safety so that together we can seriously reduce the needless pain and suffering caused by road trauma here and across the world.”