Roundtable prioritises reducing risky road use in Australia

Reducing road trauma in Australia by driving down risky road behaviours was the key priority for an industry roundtable held in Adelaide today by the Australian Government.

Chaired by Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Carol Brown, the roundtable brought together representatives from 20 organisations that directly support or rely on advancing road safety.

These included road safety research, transport industry, alcohol and drug, First Nations health, youth advisory, insurance, and motoring and cycling organisations.

Productive discussions were held on a number of critical areas to understand how we can improve seatbelt use, reduce drink and drug driving, and minimise other risky road behaviours such as distracted driving and speeding.

Reducing risky road use on Australian roads is one of nine priorities included in the National Road Safety Strategy 2021-30, a nationally agreed plan to reduce road fatalities by 50 per cent by 2030.

For more information on the strategy and its priorities, visit: www.roadsafety.gov.au/nrss.

Quotes attributable to Federal Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Carol Brown:

“Our government has an unwavering commitment to Vision Zero, that is no deaths on Australian roads by 2050 – because any road death is one too many.

“Working hand-in-hand with industry and community groups is essential on the path to realising this vision, which is what this roundtable was all about.

“Today’s discussions canvassed critical challenges and opportunities surrounding how we can reduce risky road use behaviours, from ramping up seatbelt use to minimising distracted driving.

“This builds on our ongoing road safety work including leading the development of national best practice guidelines for drink and drug driving, fatigue and speed management as well as driver distraction – which we are working on in consultation with states, territories and police.

“Our 2023-24 Budget also strengthened our funding commitment to road safety initiatives, with over $976 million available for new infrastructure projects through the Road Safety Program and a further $43.6 million committed to the new, non-infrastructure National Road Safety Action Grants Program.

“We’ll continue to work with states, territories and industry to advance road safety in Australia.”