Road Safety Week runs from Monday 30 April to Sunday 6 May and Kingborough’s Road Safety Committee is encouraging people to ‘drive so others survive’.
“Driving to the conditions, following speed limits, wearing seat belts and not driving if tired or under the influence of alcohol or drugs are important to keeping everyone safe,” says the Chair of the Committee, Cr Paul Chatterton. “These themes have been around for many years and are the minimum requirements for safe driving.”
The Committee strongly encourage drivers to consider the following points, which can dramatically reduce the chances of being involved in a crash.
- Pay attention – Any distraction that takes your eyes off the road means you cannot react to a developing emergency ahead, or avoid straying off the road or over the centre line. If you take your eyes off the road for just two seconds at 100km/h, your car will have travelled nearly 60 metres – enough time and distance to have a potentially fatal crash.
- Look ahead and keep a safe gap – Making sure a safe gap exists between you and other vehicles ahead will provide more time to see and react to a developing situation. Rear end crashes can be the result of travelling too close to the vehicle in front and being unable to stop in time when something unexpected happens. Looking ahead means the unexpected is much less likely to surprise you.
- Let others know where you are going – Signal your changes in direction so that other drivers are not confused by your actions.
More than two-thirds of serious casualties on our roads involve run-off-road or head on crashes. Many, if not most, such crashes involve a single-vehicle where driver inattention is a causal factor. During road safety week please think about inattention and other crash causes – such as speeding and drink-driving – and discuss them with your families, especially learner or newly licenced drivers.
“Safe driving requires full and continuous attention”, said Cr Chatterton, “If we can convince more drivers of this we can make a serious reduction in the road toll. We can indeed Drive so Others Survive”.