As we head towards the long weekend, many of us will be taking the opportunity of four days off, to explore our own backyard.
For some this may be an annual tradition, with family and friends, and for others it may the first time at a new destination.
For most though, this will involve loading up the car and taking a road trip.
With that, road safety becomes paramount over this time of year – including the need to have access to most accurate information.
Over this 18-month period the road toll sadly continued rising steadily.
We saw a 7.3 per cent increase in road fatalities last year, from the previous 12-month period.
Having the most up to date road safety data is vital, in assisting our planners on how best to rollout vital life-saving road infrastructure upgrade projects, locally and around the nation.
The Labor Government had a pre-election promise to gather road data from states and territories in return for funding, in order to assess the effectiveness of measures being funded to reduce road crashes.
However, this is yet to materialise.
Now, following calls from the Coalition and organisations such as the Australian Automobiles Association, the Government is planning to host a National Road Safety Conference.
Road safety has been a matter of urgency for some time.
Data relating to road quality, crash causation, and law enforcement must be shared to improve our roads.
The Coalition will always do what we can to improve road infrastructure and road safety and I hope that this Conference will bring about a positive outcome for the future.
There are steps that we can all do to keep ourselves safe while traveling on our roads.
This includes remembering to take regular breaks when driving – once every two hours.
Avoid driving when you are tired and distractions while on the road.
Always keep in mind – Stop, Revive, Survive.
I hope you are all able to have a break over the long weekend and if you are travelling, please take care on our roads.
I want wish everyone a very safe and Happy Easter.
