Plea for drivers to stop taking risks as deaths soar
William Ton |
A national road safety campaign and commemorations marking a century of road safety have been overshadowed by a horror Mother’s Day road toll.
Victoria’s road toll soared by 10 over three days of carnage during the Mother’s Day weekend.
Drivers were taking unacceptable risks leading to accidents and injuries that were preventable, Road Policing Assistant Commissioner Glenn Weir said.
“We are seeing the dominant cause of most of the road trauma in Victoria as a single act of non-compliance, something as simple as not stopping at the stop or give way sign, being distracted or speeding,” he told reporters on Monday.
Mr Weir begged “entitled” motorists to think of others on the road.
“Please care for yourselves, care for others, because what happens doesn’t just happen for a moment. It stays with you forever,” he said.
“A moment of inattention or non-compliance ends in a lifetime of trauma.
“There’s no reverse button here, so people need to realise that non-compliance has consequences.”
None of the fatalities were believed to be linked to drugs or alcohol, Mr Weir said.
The carnage began with a 53-year-old motorcyclist dying after colliding with a car in Moutajup, in southwestern Victoria, on Saturday.
Three more deaths occurred on Mother’s Day, when a 61-year-old driver died after crashing into a fence at Kurunjang, west of Melbourne, in what police believe was a medical episode.
A 49-year-old woman died after a car she was in collided with another in Trafalgar, in the state’s West Gippsland region, and a 43-year-old man died when his car hit another vehicle at Pootilla, east of Ballarat.
It was a deadly Monday on the state’s roads with six fatalities, including a 46-year-old man and 52-year-old woman in a head-on collision in Clayton South about 6am, followed by a 26-year-old man an hour later after he lost control in Swan Hill West in northern Victoria.
A 66-year-old pedestrian died after being hit by a car in West Footscray about 8am and two elderly people died about midday after police said a car crossed onto the wrong side of the road on a highway, near Daylesford, and smashed head-on with another car.
The deaths come as police forces across the nation mark National Road Safety Week.
Police are paying close attention to speed which has contributed to more than 30 road deaths this year in the state.
Across the border, authorities were marking 100 years of road safety in the NSW police force as the state experienced more than 130 road deaths in 2025.
Police Minister Yasmin Catley blamed driver behaviour, monstrous blood-alcohol readings, excessive speeding and drivers not using seatbelts for NSW’s recent spike in road deaths.
Safer Australian Roads and Highways president Peter Frazer said there had been a lot of aberrant behaviour, including speeding, and said the onus was on drivers to play their part keeping others safe.
“People are becoming more selfish on the roads and highways and we’ve got to change that,” he said.
Across Australia, 1284 people were killed on the roads in the 12 months to March 31, marking the worst year-to-March outcome since 2013, according to the Australian Automobile Association.
Almost a quarter of all fatal crashes in 2024 occurred in Victoria.
AAP
