Zero Hero sets safety pace

As the South West experiences a spike in road deaths reversing a five-year downward trend, the Road Safety Commission is rolling out a series of campaigns targeting driver behaviour.

One of the first beneficiaries of these campaigns was Broadwater man Russell Smith, who was this week awarded $5000 in fuel as part of the commission’s Zero Hero campaign rewarding drivers for retaining all their demerit points.

The father-of-one was named the campaign’s regional winner on his 33rd birthday — his first time winning anything, Mr Smith said.

“I’ve never even won a running race,” he said.

Road Safety Commissioner Kim Papalia told theTimes the Zero Hero campaign was one of several stemming from behavioural science.

“We recognise there’s no single panacea for the risks on the road, we have to have a multi-faceted approach, and that’s replicated in our campaigns,” he said.

“The next tranche will focus on the risk-takers — the group of people who consistently demonstrate poor behaviour.”

While Mr Papalia said the campaigns were not in response to a spike in deaths, the campaigns do coincide with a horror year on the roads in the South West.

The region has had 19 road deaths so far for this year, compared with 16 for all of 2015.

The spike reverses a five-year downward trend and contrasts with a drop in metropolitan road deaths.

Despite this year’s numbers, Vasse MLA Libby Mettam said the region had had a gradual decrease in road deaths in the past decade.

In 2006, the South West experienced 35 fatal road crashes.

Mrs Mettam said road quality was a contributing factor, but about 60 per cent of fatalities stemmed from driver behaviour.

“The quality of roads is very important, which is why I’ll continue to push for the dual carriageway on Bussell Highway but we know driver behaviour … is a major factor,” she said.

“We need more people like Russell Smith on the road and I welcome the Road Safety Commission’s initiative in delivering this positive campaign.”

Mrs Mettam said zero fatalities on the roads was a realistic goal and targeting driver behaviour was a way of achieving this.

The Road Safety Commission will roll out several more campaigns between now and January, and are expected to run until July.