Motorists in the Gunnedah district are being reminded about the importance of taking care behind the wheel during National Road Safety Week (May 11-18).
Every year on Australian roads about 1300 people are killed and another 44,000 are seriously injured.
In 2024, 334 people were killed on the state’s roads, with almost 70 per cent of those in regional NSW and around 40 per cent speed-related.
The overarching theme of National Road Safety Week this year is ‘Drive so others Survive’, with road users encouraged to make a road safety pledge. More than 73,000 pledges have already been taken online.
An annual initiative of road safety week is the Safer Australian Roads and Highways (SARAH) Group, which was launched by Peter Frazer OAM, following the tragic loss of his daughter Sarah at a road crash.
On 15 February 2012, Sarah, then aged 23, was driving to Wagga Wagga to begin her university degree when her car broke down on the Hume Highway near Mittagong. She pulled into the emergency breakdown lane and called for assistance before another vehicle collided into her and the tow truck driver, killing them both.
Coinciding with the safety week is a new website titled ‘Beyond the crash: Real life stories’ which highlights the people behind the road crash statistics, reinforcing that every death on our roads isn’t just a number, it represents a real person, and a ripple effect felt by families, friends, and communities.
The site features a story wall and interactive map, allowing users to explore crash stories by location. Through these stories, the platform aims to encourage safer driving attitudes and behaviour.
This year also marks 100 years of the dedication of the NSW Police Force to keep the community safe on our roads and reduce road trauma.
In 1925, Inspector General James Mitchell established the Public Safety Bureau, a dedicated unit of police to target speeding drivers and general traffic offences due to the increase of motor vehicles on the roads.
This year also marks 50 years of what is now known as the Traffic and Highway Patrol Command.
In 1975, Police Commissioner Fred Hanson and Police Minister John Lloyd Waddy established the NSWPF Highway Patrol which saw a change in uniform, distinctive, marked vehicles and new lightbars and sirens.
Traffic and Highway Patrol was officially established in 2011 as a statewide model. This brought all Highway Patrol officers under one command structure, while geographically they remained based at more than 50 locations across NSW.
Other key dates include:
• 1937 – speed limits introduced – 48km/h in built up areas and 80km/h in unlit areas;
• 1968 – breathalysers introduced with 0.08 BAC limit;
• 1969 – demerits points scheme introduced in NSW;
• 1971 – wearing of seatbelts becomes compulsory in NSW;
• 1980 – BAC level reduced to 0.05 due to the higher risk of fatal or serious injury collisions occurring with a reading above 0.05;
• 1982 – stationary RBTs introduced. Deaths on the road dropped by approximately 300 (or 23%) the first year;
• 1997 – double demerits introduced over long weekends;
• 2001 – 40km/h school zones introduced at all schools in NSW;
• 2005 – automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) – by 2009 technology allowed for reading of 6 number plates per second.
• 2007 – roadside drug testing introduced to deter people from driving with illicit drugs in their system;
• 2024 – new roadside drug tests introduced which make results available on the spot, saving more than 55,000 hours of police time.
