The Australian Transport Council, which comprises Federal and all State and Territory Ministers with transport responsibilities and includes an observer from local government, has adopted this National Strategy. In Australia’s federal system of government, road safety strategy and policy measures are principally driven by the States, Territories and local government who conduct their own comprehensive programs. The Commonwealth role is to collate statistics, conduct and co-ordinate research, fund National Highways and the treatment of black spots, regulate new vehicle standards and monitor vehicle safety recalls, and facilitate the sharing of ideas among stakeholders. Accordingly, this Strategy has been developed as a framework document which recognises the safety plans of the Federal, State, Territory and local governments and other organisations involved in road safety. Individual governments will continue to develop and implement their own road safety strategies and programs consistent with this Strategy but reflecting local imperatives. The National Road Safety Strategy aims to dramatically reduce death and injury on Australian roads. Road crashes are a major cause of human trauma. There have been over 163,000 road fatalities in Australia. In addition to the burden of personal suffering, the monetary cost of crashes has been estimated to be in the order of $15 billion per annum (in 1996). Improved road safety is achievable. From 1970 until 1999 the fatality rate dropped from 30.4 to 9.3 deaths per 100,000 population. The rate is now at its lowest since record keeping commenced in 1925. This reduction has been achieved in spite of a huge increase in motor vehicle use. From 1970 to 1999, the fatality rate per 10,000 registered vehicles has dropped from 8.0 to 1.5. This improvement has come at a price in terms of money and social responsibility. The Australian people have been asked — and have agreed — to pay for safety in vehicles and for better roads, and to accept tougher regulations and enforcement measures. Most importantly, people have heeded the call to drive more responsibly. Australia achieved significant reductions in the road toll in the early and mid 1990s but since 1997 the road toll has remained constant. There is much more that we can and must do. Some other developed nations are achieving fatality rates of just 60% of our rate and these nations are working towards further ambitious reductions. Our target is to achieve a 40% reduction in the number of fatalities per 100,000 population by 2010. It is a difficult target, but an achievable one.Achieving this target will save about 3,600 lives over the next 10 years. It is a target that will require strenuous effort by all parties involved in road safety. In addition to our own transport agencies we therefore ask for the continuing support of road users and user groups, the media, police, health care providers, schools, local government, vehicle builders, employers and the wider community. The challenge is to move our thinking from ways to limit the toll to how to create a genuinely safe road transport system, and to work out how to achieve such a system. This Strategy supersedes the National Strategy 1992–2001 which provided a national framework within which a large range of road safety initiatives were introduced.
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