General News
18 August, 2022
Police urge drivers to take responsibility of their actions behind the wheel
Almost half of Victoria’s road users have admitted to speeding in the last year, something local police say is both concerning and unsurprising as new data reveals driver attitudes towards road safety. The Transport Accident Commission’s (TAC)...
Almost half of Victoria’s road users have admitted to speeding in the last year, something local police say is both concerning and unsurprising as new data reveals driver attitudes towards road safety.
The Transport Accident Commission’s (TAC) recently released annual Road Safety Monitor Report surveyed more than 2500 Victorians on their road safety behaviours and attitudes.
Capturing data from 2021, the report revealed the highest incidence of self-reported intentional speeding in five years, with 42 percent of drivers admitting to deliberately speeding in a 60 km/h zone and 45 percent knowingly speeding in a 100 km/h zone.
The survey shows road users perceive speeding to be comparatively safer than other high-risk behaviours like drink driving, using a mobile phone behind the wheel and driving while drowsy.
Drivers aged 18 to 25 perceived driving a few kilometres over the limit in both 60 km/h and 100 km/h to be safer than all other age groups, the report shows, with young males less likely to think speeding in these settings is dangerous than females.
Central Goldfields Highway Patrol Acting Sergeant Andrew Henderson said while concerning, driver attitudes towards speeding were not a surprise.
“Speed is a huge issue for us, drivers look at other countries where there are higher posted speed limits or unlimited ranges and they think that’s acceptable here, but our road and weather conditions don’t allow for that,” he said.
“There is a lot of complacency when it comes to speed, drivers don’t realise the impacts it has and speed is certainly overrepresented in the serious and fatal collisions we see.
“Often speeding is intentional depending on the level of speed, anything that’s 10 or 15 km/h over the posted limit is generally because people are in a hurry and are running late, so they put their own needs above others on the road.
“People aren’t getting the message on speeding — we are constantly detecting people driving above the speed limit and we forever will until drivers start to take responsibility for their actions.”
According to the report, road users perceived mobile phone use behind the wheel as one of the most dangerous driving behaviours, behind drink driving, however almost one in three of the drivers surveyed admitted to doing it.
The data again shows young drivers aged between 18 and 25 perceive this behaviour to be less dangerous compared to older drivers.
While this signified a drop from the 37 percent of drivers who admitted to using their mobile phones in 2016, Act Sgt Henderson said it continues to be too many drivers doing the wrong thing and putting themselves and others at risk.
“Mobile phones can be a recipe for disaster and we see people using their phones fairly regularly,” he said.
“The biggest issue with phone use is that if people are texting or browsing through social media, they are literally taking their eyes off the road.
“The person who has their phone up to their ear talking on the phone are the ones we catch because we can clearly see they are on their phone.
“That is still against the law, but that sort of behaviour isn’t as high risk as someone texting or reading a message and they’re the ones we have trouble catching — we know they’re doing it, but proving it is the issue.”
The survey findings come as the TAC launches a second wave of advertising targeting high-risk behaviours like speeding in an effort to reduce the number of people killed on the state’s roads.
It also follows a fatal head-on collision just outside Talbot last week, where a 65-year-old man was killed — with the state’s death toll now sitting at 154 this year.
With drivers being aware of dangerous behaviours and admitting to doing them anyway, Act Sgt Henderson said it was time for road users to take responsibility of their actions.
“Road safety is everybody’s responsibility, it starts with the person who’s driving and their passengers in the vehicle.
“My advice is to slow down, drive to the weather conditions, stay off your phone and ensure your vehicle is a safe standard to be driving.”
TAC CEO Joe Calafiore said the difference a few kilometres in speed makes can be the difference between life and death.
“Our research shows us that attitudes to road safety have improved over the years, but it is concerning that an increasing proportion of motorists still value saving a few minutes over their lives and the lives of others,” he said.
“If you think going just a little bit over the speed limit is safe — think again.
“The evidence is clear that even small increases in speed can make a big difference in how seriously we are injured in a crash, or whether we survive at all.”