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'Towards Zero': Why the government's goal of no fatalities is on a road to nowhere | Opinion

Trying to achieve a road toll of zero is simply impossible in an imperfect world.

‘Towards Zero’ has become the goal of state governments around the country. Put simply, it’s the idea of getting the road toll to zero. 

It’s a noble idea and personally one I’d be happy and relieved to see. Losing a loved one at any time is traumatic, so whatever we have to do to cut the number of people that die on our roads, I’m in favour of.

So, keep that in mind when I say this - Towards Zero is a fool’s errand. 

There’s a reason they’re called ‘car accidents’; no-one goes out on the road planning to crash. Trying to achieve a road toll of zero is as realistic as achieving ‘zero crime’ or ‘zero illness’ - it’s simply impossible in an imperfect world. 

But we can - and must - do more to reduce the road toll to as close to zero as possible. The problem with Towards Zero, as noble and well-intentioned as it is, is in its current form, it has zero chance of success. 

The road toll is not dropping at a rate that will see us hit zero in the foreseeable future, and the reason for this is simple, too: there’s too much focus on speeding. Visit towardszero.nsw.gov.au and you’re greeted with an unmistakable message: ‘Speed Cameras Save Lives. SLOW DOWN’.

Except that’s not necessarily true.

A few clicks later on, that same website will tell you that the majority of accidents on New South Wales roads are caused by speeding - 41 per cent. Which leaves 59 per cent of accidents NOT caused by speed. 

A recent report by Victoria’s Traffic Accident Commission (TAC) found that 71 per cent of all fatal accidents can be attributed to “basic error” rather than “high-risk behaviours” such as speeding and driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Want more evidence that a singular focus on speed does nothing to help reduce the road toll? Look at New South Wales and its decision to stop warning ahead of its mobile speed camera locations.

In the first five months of 2021 NSW, recorded 122 deaths with the now hidden cameras, compared to 121 deaths in the same period in 2020. Revenue in that time? Well, that shot up a staggering 1726 per cent - from $872,000 in January to May 2020, to a whopping $15.93 million in the same five months of 2021. 

Tell me again that the focus on speed is all about reducing the road toll

Let me make one thing clear - speeding is bad. I’m not encouraging speeding, or even suggesting that governments should do away with speed cameras. They serve a purpose and do play a role in reducing the road toll. But, ultimately, if we are to achieve a road toll of zero, much more needs to be done to get there.

To its credit, the NSW government’s plan for Towards Zero involves four pillars - safe people, safe roads, safe speeds and safe vehicles. The problem is, I don’t see an equal investment in those areas to reduce the road toll. 

When was the last time you saw a billboard for greater driver education? Or a program that encouraged people to actually drive safer cars, like the ‘cash-for-clunkers’ schemes run overseas? 

Reading the government’s own website makes it clear that its focus is on punishing mistakes rather than creating better drivers. Under the safe people page, it reads: “Education combined with enforcement and penalties, including fines, demerit points and licence suspension, all aim to motivate road users to follow the rules and behave safely on and around the road.”

It’s all stick and no carrot.

The messaging is primarily about punishment and not ensuring better driving standards, and while it mentions education, there are no concrete plans to improve driving training in this country.

Getting a licence in Australia is largely the same process as it was when I got mine more than 20 years ago. Read a handbook, pass a quiz and then you’re let loose on the roads with a parent or, if you’re lucky, a professional instructor, to learn in the real world. Once you’ve had a year or so of practice, it’s time to take a drive around the block, and if you do that right, you’re free to drive alone.

Australia needs to look at how other countries create better drivers through more thorough driver education. Take Germany for example; to get a driver’s licence there, you need to attend a driving school, pass both a theory and practical test, and do a first aid course. Not only that, but the driver must pass practical tests in a variety of conditions - urban, autobahn and at night. The whole process can cost up to €3000 ($4800), which means Germans need to be committed to the process of getting a licence and doing it right.

The net result of all this are safer roads, Germany recorded a road toll of 3046 in 2019 from a population of 83 million people. In contrast, 1195 Australians died on our roads in 2019 from our population of 25 million. 

People within the industry, notably former V8 Supercar champion Mark Skaife, have been calling for greater driver education in Australia for years and are often criticised for promoting a ‘hoon’ culture. The fear is that by teaching defensive driving and how to avoid an accident, we will create a generation of drivers who are overconfident and race around on the road. That’s, pardon my French, complete BS. It’s like saying we shouldn’t teach maths in school because some of the kids will grow up to use maths to run a financial scheme to rip people off. 

Educating our new drivers, and retesting drivers every decade or so, would help dramatically improve the driving standard and have a positive impact on reducing the road toll.

If the NSW government can raise nearly $16m from speed cameras in less than six months, surely that money can be used to fund driver training programs for new drivers, right? 

The same goes for doing more to get drivers into safer cars. While the NSW government encourages people “to choose the safest vehicle within their price range”, there aren’t any major programs to incentivise that. In fact, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the average age of vehicles across the country is getting old, currently sitting at 10.6 years. Think about how much safer a car in 2021 is compared to one from 2011? 

Now that there’s incentives for electric vehicles, how about the government doing something similar to make a tangible difference in getting people out of older, less safe cars? Again, given the money raised from speed cameras, surely there’s a budget to introduce a program like that.

Ultimately my point is this - if we are to achieve a road toll of zero, it will take complete buy-in from the community. and to do that. the governments around the country need to stop making speed the singular focus and do more to encourage safe drivers in safer cars. And that will only come with more support for driver education, more advanced training and legislation that forces older cars out in favour of newer models.

Only then can we begin to make progress towards zero.