Australasia’s peak membership association for road safety experts, professionals and members of
the public today called for Australia’s leaders to take serious note of today’s report released by the
Australian Automobile Association (AAA) showing the safety of the nation’s highways is
unacceptable, and targeted investment must be made to save lives.
“The report from AAA shows that an investment of $4.7bn would save 36,000 lives and serious
injuries on our highways over 20 years. ” Mr Lauchlan McIntosh, Australasian President of the
College, said.
“Without indexing for inflation, this would save the economy an estimated $28bn over 20 years
based on recent government figures that show that the existing level of road trauma is currently
costing the economy around $27bn per year. That’s a 6-fold economic return on our investment in
safety.”
“Whilst the financial returns to our nation are commendable, the return to our nation in terms of
better outcomes for our families and communities is infinite.”
“This is simply one of the things that is important in our commitment to increase the wellbeing of all
Australians. We are urging all levels of government to support our call for a comprehensive
manifesto to reduce road trauma.” Mr McIntosh said.
Road trauma is Australia’s most serious public health issue which kills 25 people and seriously
injures another 600 every week across the country, and costs the nation over $27b each year – more
than our defence budget.
ACRS recently released a comprehensive manifesto suggesting the nationwide benefits of a
coordinated and cooperative approach to reducing road trauma.
The College urges all federal politicians to raise the profile of road trauma across our nation and
internationally, and provide strong leadership and support for this coordinated approach towards
road trauma reductions.
The Complete 2013 ACRS Submission to Federal Parliamentarians and the AusRAP Star Rating Report
can be downloaded here