Magazine safety campaign gains momentum

A motoring magazine campaign to change the direction of Australian state government road safety policies has struck a chord with drivers weary of zero tolerance policing and a profusion of speed cameras.

Wheels magazine began to investigate the issue late in 2011 when the newly elected NSW coalition government committed to a review and restructure of the way road safety was managed in the state.

But when the review resulted in more speed cameras, more red-light cameras and a steep increase in speeding fines, Wheels magazine editor Bill Thomas decided it was time to take direct action.

“We want our roads back,” Mr Thomas declared to motoring.com.au. “We think ordinary motorists are being ripped-off by state governments who dress up draconian speed enforcement tactics as safety related. They are not – they are fundamentally related to raising revenue. Many foreign countries have better accident statistics, yet are nowhere near as draconian in their speed enforcement policies. Why? Because they’re not allowed to get away with revenue-raising, and they’re concentrating on other issues, like driver education, road design, and traffic laws.”

The magazine has devoted a series of articles to the issue and published a series of updates on its ‘Wheels Australia’ Facebook page. It has also listed the contact details of relevant state government and opposition ministers and urged readers to lobby them expressing their concerns.

The issue has dominated the magazine’s ‘Inbox’ letters pages and also attracted plenty of attention on Facebook.

“One of our early posts on road safety was shared 2368 times and seen by 44,203 people. But we still think the numbers are too small – we need to engage the general public as well as car enthusiasts and make them aware of the issue,” said Mr Thomas.

He made it clear Wheels doesn’t oppose the policing of sensible speed limits, nor is it simply railing against the policies that exist for the sake of it. It argues that focus on the ‘speed kills’ message at the expense of all else ignores fundamental initiatives that would lower the road toll.

Wheels nominates five key steps that it argues would lead to safer roads:

- Revolutionise driver education including pre-license and car control components
- Revise speed limits for consistency not confusion
- Greater policing of keep left unless overtaking, undertaking and tailgating offences
- Refocus speed camera policy by placing them in black spots only 
- Increase road funding by diverting all revenue from speed cameras to improving roads

“We need a road safety policy better aligned to best practice overseas, and we need to see an end to the exploitation of ordinary motorists who – in the vast majority of cases – are doing nothing dangerous on the roads, yet are still being fined,” said Mr Thomas.

“We’d especially like to see the end of covert mobile speed cameras which are set up to trap motorists and have no demonstrable safety benefit. A change in laws and an improvement in young driver education would result in fewer deaths on our roads. That’s got to be the ultimate goal.”

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