Despite the theme of Road Safety Week 2022 in November being ‘safe roads for all’ the country is facing a crisis of serious injuries and deaths on our roads every day. There were nearly 1,560 fatalities and a total of almost 24,500 deaths and serious injuries in 2021. 

 

The 2021 ‘Safe Roads for All’ report urges the government to prioritise safe and healthy mobility including prevention of death and serious injury from road crashes. One of the recommended goals is to ‘work towards eradicating deaths and catastrophic injuries from crashes in the long-term and target incremental results towards this’. 

 

The report says, ‘There is a national tragedy on our roads every week that must stop’. It rightly points out that the word ‘accident’ implies inevitability and no blame while the word ‘crash’ better describes what is happening on our roads. There is insufficient priority given to understanding the causes of road crashes and practical prevention measures.