The Victorian Government Department of Transport has released the Victorian Road Safety Strategy 2021-2030:
The strategy aims to halve road deaths and reduce serious injuries by 2030 and put us on the path to eliminating road deaths by 2050. This is similar to ‘vision zero‘ strategies from other countries.
Road Safety Victoria (part of the Department of Transport) will lead efforts to deliver the strategy. Part of the objectives is cultural change, to embed a culture of road safety within the Victorian community.
The core of the strategy is Safe System:
People who walk and cycle are highlighted as being at risk:
The strategy identifies several levers for change, including safer travel speeds (which can include 30 km/h for local streets) and infrastructure improvements (which can include traffic calming, modal filters, raised threshold treatments and protected bicycle lanes).
We will target our efforts to improve the safety of vulnerable road users – including older road users, children and young drivers – and foster liveable cities that encourage active transport considerate of the relationship between transport, sustainability and public health outcomes.
Image credit: Road Safety Strategy 2021-2030
We will work to protect our most at-risk communities who are unprotected on the roads, including pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists with a combination of initiatives drawing on safety infrastructure, safer road design, land-use planning strategies and behaviour change campaigns.
Image credit: Road Safety Strategy 2021-2030
Our view
Streets Alive Yarra supports the Victorian Road Safety Strategy 2021-2030, and even better would have been to commit to a proactive approach based on iRAP star rating of all roads and streets, then progressive investment in infrastructure changes to lift the star rating, aiming at 4 stars for all roads and streets in Victoria by 2030, and 5 stars for all by 2050.
Published 27th December 2020