On-the-spot fines for low-range drink-driving offences, cameras aimed at curbing the use of mobile phones by drivers and additional heavy vehicle average speed cameras are among a raft of announcements made by the NSW Government on Tuesday to curb the state’s horror road toll.
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Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced the changes, which will bring the total commitment to targeted road safety campaigns to $1.4 billion over five years, would also have an initial figure of $125 million devoted to the Saving Lives on Country Roads program.
Roads minister Melinda Pavey said rumble strips and wire rope barriers will feature heavily in works done on regional roads.
“If you live in the country you are four times more likely to die in a road crash than if you live in metropolitan NSW,” she said.
“This is why we will roll out 1600km of rumble strips and 300km in targeted safety works, such as flexible wire rope barriers to help present run-off-road and head-on crashes on our road network.”
The move to implement on-the-spot punishment for low-range drink-driving is sure to draw the ire of some sections of the community.
Last month road safety advocate Kevin Saul, whose nine-year-old son Brendan died in a hit-and-run at Dubbo in 2004, was dismayed about any change that might allow drink-drivers to avoid facing court.
“The community has been working hard for 40-odd years to make the act of drink-driving unpalatable and one of disgrace,” he told the Daily Liberal at the time.
“It [the proposal] actually trivialises the act of driving with above PCA offences by creating a fine rather than the current process,”
