COASTTOCOAST100 Reports
Regardless of what vehicles are involved, too often letters arrive at COASTTOCOAST100 outlining driver frustration at Police inaction on reports of dangerous driving incidents. This appears to be the case in all states and territories ….
We ALL also have a responsibility to ensure the safety of ourselves and others whilst driving on our roads and as a community are collectively beginning to demand legislative change that will enable us to take a greater role in “policing” drivers who behave dangerously.
Police presence on the roads is by far the best deterrent to curbing dangerous driving behaviour – however the highway patrol unit could almost be listed on the endangered species register – so few of them do we see out on the roads. Many dangerous drivers accept reduced police numbers on the roads as a free ticket to drive dangerously but consider just how quickly they will assume “responsible” driving behavior when passing a marked police car. We then realise just how effective police presence is on the roads.
This particular thought became an epiphany late one night as I considered how best we could emulate that same response in dangerous drivers in the absence of Police presence. The solution we now believe is a designated national road safety hotline. A “neighbourhood watch on wheels” – if you like – overseen by a national authority underpinned by intergovernmental agreement and co-operation - a coordinated National Road Safety Strategy committed to substantially reducing the road toll.
Click on the link below to read more, then email your thoughts and comments to lyndal@coasttocoast100.com.au
Click Here to download National Road Safety Hotline Discussion Paper.
The COASTTOCOAST100 road safety campaign was developed on the NSW North Coast as the result of on-going intimidating heavy vehicle driver behaviour on the Pacific highway. With the introduction of the COASTTOCOAST100 website came the opportunity for motorists to provide details of incidents of dangerous heavy vehicle driver behavior through the Report a Truckie feature.
From Monday February 25, 2008 you will be able to access this comprehensive nation-wide account of motorist experiences whilst sharing the roads with heavy vehicles through the link below. The 56 page report spans the period July 2007 to December 2007 and is the first of its type to be released to the general public and the transport industry providing a snapshot of heavy vehicle driver behavior on Australian roads over a six month period.
All reports are in the motorists own words. It is hoped that the information contained in the report will not only provide members of the general motoring public and the transport industry with an insight into what goes on out there but also it is hoped the data will assist with the development of strategies designed to educate, improve driver attitude and enhance awareness and co-operation between road users with a view to reducing the both the incidence of crashes and the freight related road toll.
Lyndal Denny
Click here to download Driver Behaviour Report - Jul to Dec 2007.
