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“How can we do more to protect those most vulnerable on our roads?”
That was the question posed by RAA’s General Manager Community and Corporate Affairs Emily Perry last night at RAA’s Annual National Road Safety Week dinner.
The event saw RAA join with the heavy weights of road safety to speak candidly about what needs to be done to reach the goal of zero deaths on our roads.
Special guests included Minister for Police, Emergency Services, Correctional Series and Road Safety Joe Szakacs, Minister for Regional Roads Geoff Brock, Jon Whelan, Chief Executive Department of Infrastructure and Transport, Chief Superintendent Paul Ralphs and President of the Australasian College of Road Safety Martin Small.
Mary Safe, mother of Amy Gillett whose life was tragically taken while cycling on a German road in 2005, also made a keynote address.
“National Road Safety Week is all about shining a spotlight on vulnerable road users and what we can do to better protect them,” Emily Perry said.
“There often seems to be a divide between motorists and other road users such as cyclists, public transport users and pedestrians.
“But we all need to be on the same page to reduce road trauma.”
Leaders on road safety including Jade Wilson, Coordinator of the community-led On the Right Track program, Brett Gillett, CEO at Bike SA, and Lisa Wundersitz, Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Automotive Safety Research also joined our expert panel to discuss where we should put our focus to create more harmony on our roads.
“We keep hearing about young drivers losing their lives on our roads, so the discussion around how we can better educate this demographic – and ultimately change dangerous behaviours is paramount,” Emily said.
“The discussion from our panellists around initiatives that make a positive impact to reduce road trauma, the important balance of safety messages to help and not hinder cyclists, and just how we change the attitudes of young road users was particularly poignant.”
More than 30 special guests attended the second annual event, held at the National Wine Centre.
National Road Safety Week (NRSW) is an annual week of community events, media and social media activities dedicated to raising awareness of, and reducing, road trauma.
