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A slow decline in road deaths in Queensland has prompted a state car insurer to call on the federal government for greater funding for low cost but effective safety upgrades on deadly roads.
RACQ issued the call after a new Australian Automobile Association (AAA) National Road Safety Benchmarking report revealed Queensland was on track to miss road fatality reduction targets set in 2011.
Steve Spalding, RACQ’s head of technical and safety, said 1,222 people died on Queensland roads in the past year – only one death fewer compared to the previous 12 months.
“In Queensland we’ve seen a tiny 1.6% decrease in road deaths in the past 12 months, which is a tragic loss of human life, and worryingly, there’s also an upward trend since the start of 2018,” Spalding said.
The RACQ leader said the AAA report revealed the country was not on track to meet the 30% reduction in road deaths by 2020 as pledged.
“While the personal and human cost of road deaths is impossible to measure, the economic impact crashes have on our country is more than 22 billion dollars a year,” Spalding said, as he joined other motoring clubs in urging the government to commit to the actions outlined in AAA’s Road Safety Platform.
“While the Black Spot program is a good start, we need better investment in low-cost safety upgrades on our worst roads, which RACQ has identified in AUSRAP.”
