Road safety overhaul: Moira's bold new plan

As the anniversary of the tragic Strathmerton accident that saw five people lose their lives sadly comes up again in April, Moira Shire Council Chair Administrator Dr Graeme Emonson PSM said council is developing a Road Safety Strategy and Action Plan to guide how the council manages the local road network and determine actions to improve overall road safety.

“There's a lot of work being done by the state and federal governments on road safety. But we as a community, can be a lot more proactive in this regard,” Dr Emonson said.

“We worked closely with the state government and TAC in regards to what we can do to improve the issues here in Moira.

“Council received a significant amount of detailed feedback, including information on locations of safety concerns, education programs and improvement options people feel would be most valuable so the strategy is being developed in line with that feedback.

“This feedback will be key in helping shape council’s road safety priorities.”

In the coming months, Dr Emonson urges all residents to voice their opinions on the draft strategy during the community consultation period.

“Alongside the development of the strategy, council has proactively been working to seek funding for community safety improvements such as the Five Ways roundabout in Yarrawonga,” Dr Emonson added.

“Continued improvements on our local streets and roads including advocacy for further investment, will be a key action as part of the draft strategy.

“We’re pleased to have been recently allocated $3 million to improve four priority areas under the Federal Government’s Black Spot program and $2 million from the TAC/DTP under the Safe Local Roads and Street Program.

“These projects are all aimed at improving local road safety.”

Across the state, Crime Stoppers and Victoria Police are also teaming up in a call to the community to share footage of high-risk driving in a new campaign, ‘See It. Share It.’

This road safety initiative uses de-identified footage of drivers behaving badly, to demonstrate dangerous driving behaviour and encourage Victorians to submit their own footage to Crime Stoppers and help keep the roads safe.

The Transport Accident Commission reports a tragic toll: over 1,200 lives lost on Victorian roads in just five years. 2023 saw a 15-year high with 295 deaths, while 2024 claimed 242 lives.

RoadSafe North East Executive Officer John Weinert reiterated that the whole way of reducing the road toll is a multi-prong attack.

“You can’t just do one thing,” Mr Weinert said.

“The police’s role is about enforcement so for us to reduce the toll from an enforcement point of view we need Police out there visually, driving out on the roads and being obvious as far as out there, driving round.

“The more police cars we see the more, natural instinct of slowing down, will happen.

“The second area is the terrible condition of our roads at the moment. Although the stats can’t actually identify the fact that our potholes have caused crashes, I personally believe the indirectly cause accidents.

“Compared to a few years ago, the drivers out there are more aggressive and less patient so if you are driving along at 100km/h and instead of waiting until it is safe to overtake you, they will do it on a double lines etc.

“I think the reasoning for it is because as we are driving along, a lot of us are dodging potholes.

“After a period of time your stress levels and anxiety are up which in turn makes you angry.

“Then because you are stressed and angry you might go and do something that you usually wouldn’t do which results in you crashing.

“That can then become another fatality on the roads. When they look at it, they go ‘oh that’s not because of the pothole’ but it may well have been that you were dodging around for the last half an hour.

“Thirdly is what we do as educators, we make drivers aware of dangerous behaviour and situations. They’re own personal responsibilities and behaviours.

“If we don’t have enough grants or funding to get out there and promote that, that itself becomes an issue.

“Our seatbelt usage is dropping. We used to have a well over 90% usage, it is now down to the low 80s and getting worse.

“Why? Because we haven’t been promoting seatbelt use and young people come along and don’t realise how important it is.

“The priorities need to change before the road toll comes down significantly.”

The penalties for high-risk driving in Victoria can be severe, particularly when drugs or alcohol are involved.

Consequences may include loss of licence, having your vehicle impounded, significant fines, or even imprisonment.

For dangerous driving specifically, you can face a fine of up to $47,520, have your vehicle impounded for 30 days or up to 2 years imprisonment.

For more information and tips for staying safe on the roads, visit the Road Safety page on the Victoria Police website: police.vic.gov.au/road-safety

The Moira Shire Road Safety Strategy and Action Plan will be live on councils website in due course by visiting moira.vic.gov.au.