This week is National Road Safety Week, so take the pledge to ‘Drive So Others Survive’ https://roadsafetyweek.com.au/home/#home/pledge
By taking the pledge, drivers make it their personal commitment to:
- remove all distractions and never use a mobile phone while driving
- not put other people at risk by speeding
- not driving while tired or under the influence of drugs (including alcohol)
- actively protect all vulnerable road users, especially those whose job places them in harm’s way, by slowing down and giving them the space they need to be safe.
National Road Safety Week is an annual initiative run by the Safer Australian Roads and Highways Group, in partnership with road safety organisations and all levels of government to highlight the impact of road trauma and how everyone can help to make roads safer by driving safely.
Each day of National Road Safety Week focuses on a different member of the community who may be affected by road trauma. Take the pledge and see all the ways you can participate in National Road Safety Week at https://roadsafetyweek.com.au
Do you know all the road rules? Be a skilled and confident driver who respects everyone on the road and abides by the road rules. See www.transport.nsw.gov.au/roadsafety/topics-tips/roadrules and www.facebook.com/nswroadsafety
Behind this important road safety initiative is a family story about Sarah Frazer, the daughter of Peter Frazer, the President of the Safer Australian Roads and Highways (SARAH) Group.
On 15 February 2012, 23 year old Sarah Frazer was driving to Wagga Wagga to begin her University degree when her car broke down. She pulled into the emergency breakdown lane and called for assistance.
As a tow-truck driver was hooking up her car, a truck side-swiped the broken-down car and collided with the pair, killing them both instantly.
Although the driver was found guilty of dangerous driving, the road was also a factor by not meeting the standards required to allow sufficient room to pull off the road safely. Had the breakdown lane been made to the Austroads standard, Sarah and the tow-truck driver would not have been left in the line of high speed traffic.
Safer Australian Roads and Highways Group was set up by Sarah’s father Peter Frazer to ensure more lives are not lost through preventable and clearly foreseeable situations like the one that took Sarah’s life.
National Road Safety Week runs until Sunday, 12 May 2024.
