A state parliamentary inquiry has been warned of the dangers faced by vulnerable road users at a hearing in country Victoria, as the state’s devastating road toll continues to climb.
Key points:
- Three Shepparton high school students said they had never heard of a safety program for young drivers in their area
- A cyclist warned riders’ lives were at risk on Victorian roads due to unsafe motorists
- Victoria is on track for its deadliest year on the roads since 2016
The inquiry into whether road safety behaviours have changed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic — and their potential impact on pedestrians, cyclists, motorcycle riders, children, and older people — held a one-day hearing in Shepparton last week.
It comes amid a horror year on the roads for the state and for the north-central Victorian region.
Thirty-one people have died in the Goulburn Valley so far this year — including two people last week — with the total the most of any region outside of metropolitan Melbourne.
The hearing was the only day the inquiry spent in country Victoria, despite well over half the state’s road deaths occurring in rural areas.
The state’s road toll sits at 215 — 40 more than this time last year — and 2023 is on track to be the deadliest year on the roads since 2016.
A gap in messaging
Cyclists, road safety experts, and local authorities were some of the 13 groups who spoke to the inquiry in Shepparton last week.
But a set of key voices were those of three Year 12 students from Greater Shepparton Secondary College (GSSC), all of whom recently got their probationary licences.
According to data from the Transport Accident Commission (TAC), 18 to 25-year-olds are over-represented in the state’s road toll, but the students told the commission they had not heard of a key Shepparton-based road safety campaign targeted specifically at keeping them safe.
The Cool Heads Driver Education Program, a joint project by Victoria Police and Greater Shepparton City Council, has been running since 2008 and reinforces safety messages for new drivers around risky and dangerous behaviours.
The program is promoted by police, local football and netball clubs, and schools, but it still is not reaching everyone.
GSSC co-captain Fabian Mucollari said the program would only work if people attended.
“That’s the first time I’ve heard of it,” Mr Mucollari said.
“It is not going to be effective if young people don’t know about it.
“Doing that outreach, I think, is probably just as, if not more, important than the actual program itself because you need people showing up for it to be effective.”
College co-captains Kady Paton and Luci Garner highlighted overloaded cars, peer pressure, distractions while driving and poor-quality roads as the key risks young drivers faced.
Cyclists ‘risking their lives’
Brett Lancaster is a former professional racing cyclist, Olympic gold medallist and a Tour de France stage winner.
But despite his decades of experience on a bike, he avoids riding on the road.
“I feel very unsafe, to be honest,” he said.
“I stick to bike paths mainly and steer away from the road as much as I can.”
According to data from the TAC, 109 bicycle riders have been killed on Victorian roads in the last 10 years, including 11 in the last 12 months.
Rhianon Norton from the Shepparton Cycling Club spoke at the inquiry and said cyclists were in jeopardy whenever they went riding.
“You risk your life every time you go out on the road,” Ms Norton said.
“You are literally putting your life in someone else’s hands when they are behind the wheel.
“People are driving around weapons and we just hope that they don’t throw them at us.”
Ms Norton said a simple adjustment to road infrastructure could make a big difference for cyclists.
“If we are sealing roads, why end them at the white line on the edge of the border of the road,” she said.
“Why not extend it at least half a metre each side? It gives cyclists a place to ride in outside the lane that cars drive in, which would be mutually beneficial.”
