THE number of deaths recorded on Victoria’s roads dropped for the first time in four years in 2017, despite the highest number of deaths occurring on roads within the Gannawarra Shire in the past seven years.
Victoria Police and the Transport Accident Commission confirmed on Monday that 257 people died on Victoria’s roads in 2017 – 33 less than the number of people killed in 2016.
More than 150 of those killed were travelling on country roads, with about 80 per cent of these deaths occurring on roads where the speed limit was 100 kilometres per hour or higher.
This was evident during the early hours of August 27 when three men – a German national and two Canadians – were killed in a single-vehicle collision on Boort-Kerang Road at Dingwall.
Two other men – a 29-year-old German man and 19-year-old Englishman, Aaron Sutcliffe – were also injured in the collision, which saw the vehicle they were all travelling in strike a timber bridge railing, lose control, overturn and strike trees beside the road.
It was the first road fatalities to occur within the Gannawarra Shire since December 2014, with the 2017 total of three deaths the highest recorded since 2010.
Meanwhile, the death of a man in a single-vehicle collision southwest of Pyramid Hill last Saturday was the sole fatality to be recorded on Loddon Shire’s roads in 2017.
It was the first time since the fatality-free years of 2012 to 2014 that less than two deaths had occurred on the municipality’s roads.
Road Policing Command Assistant Commissioner Doug Fryer said while 2017 saw the first reduction in the number of lives lost on Victorian roads in four years, it was sobering to reflect that 257 families move into 2018 without their loved one.
“I cannot accept that it is only a matter of time before another life is lost, that the cost of mobility will at times be someone’s life,” he said.
“That is why police will continue to run intelligence led Statewide and local police operations that focus on speed, drink and drug driving, distraction, seat belt compliance and fatigue.
“My resolve only strengthens too that we’ll continue to enforce and educate for greater road safety. And we’ll continue to call on the community to acknowledge that they, each and every motorist, rider, pedestrian and or cyclist, has a role in ensuring theirs and other road users safety.”
