A woman passenger killed in a single-vehicle crash at Batlow is another terrible incident involving country drivers, a major proportion of whom made up last year’s horrific road toll in NSW.
A breakdown of where people died on the roads last year shows that southern and south-west NSW were the problem areas in the state.
Fatigue is also a major factor in these deaths. Research provided to The Land shows that last year 76 people died on NSW roads because of fatigue. Of these, 67 of these lives – or nearly 90 per cent – were lost on country roads.
“Motorists who drive while they are tired remains the second biggest killer on our roads behind speeding drivers and is a problem across the country,” Roads Minister Melinda Pavey said.
“Last year we lost 272 people on country roads. That’s nearly 70 per cent of the total 2017 road toll - 392 deaths in NSW.
“Being awake for 17 hours has a similar effect on your performance and reaction time behind the wheel as having blood alcohol content over the legal limit.
“Crashes due to fatigue are twice as likely to be fatal simply because drivers who are asleep can’t brake.
“A number of unique factors, such as higher speeds and longer travel distances, contribute to higher risk on country roads but research shows that driver behaviour is still a significant factor in crashes.”
The NSW Centre for Road Safety said it was a big misconception that fatal crashes on country roads involved city drivers unfamiliar with country environments.
“There is a commonly held belief that it is city people or tourists unfamiliar with regional roads who are most at risk on country roads,” the centre’s executive director Bernard Carlon told The Land.
“The fact is that the majority of drivers and riders involved in fatal crashes on country roads are country residents.
“In NSW, country residents are four times more likely to be killed in a road crash than metropolitan residents.
“There are a number of unique factors contributing to higher risk on country roads such as higher speed roads, roadside hazards like trees and longer travel distances. However, driver behaviours such as speeding, driver fatigue, drink driving, and not wearing a seatbelt, all continue to contribute to country fatalities and serious injuries.” A major campaign was launched late last year to improve country road safety.
Men make up nearly 80 per cent of all deaths on country roads, a breakdown of 2017 road toll statistics show.
Regional males aged 30 to 59 years make up the largest proportion of fatalities on country roads.
In 2012-2016, the 30 to 59 year age group accounted for 458 deaths, 39 per cent of the total fatalities on country roads. The top behaviour factors contributing to fatalities on NSW roads in 2017 were: excessive or inappropriate speed – 42 per cent (all NSW road fatalities) compared with 42 per cent (country); fatigue –19 per cent (all NSW) compared with 25 per cent (country); illegal alcohol – 11 per cent (all NSW) compared with 11 per cent (country), Seatbelt non usage – 11 per cent (all NSW) compared with 18 per cent (country).
Truck crashes have featured heavily in the last few weeks in the north, centre and south of the state, with calls for creating new truck safety bodies and creating a chain of responsibility for truck safety.
