Seven people have died on south-west roads so far this year – the equivalent of a netball team. Sadly, we are tracking towards last year’s total of 14 deaths.
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The numbers are tragic yet in an era of unprecedented safety measures in vehicles accidents keep happening.
That’s why authorities like the Transport Accident Commission dare to shock and sometimes confront with their campaigns to lower the road toll.
The TAC’s latest road safety campaign is as graphic and hard-hitting as it is quirky and memorable. And there should be no apologies for that.
If the campaign, launched on Thursday, jolts even one driver into being more responsible, the TAC has done its job.
The mix of high-powered vehicles, false bravado, distractions like mobile phones and drug-driving is a fatal combination.
On almost a daily basis, we watch TV footage of yet another life lost on our roads. We see it so often, we’re almost numb to it.
We hear and see what has happened. We may even know victims or their families.
But do we really know what happens to our bodies when involved in a car crash?
That’s where Graham comes in. Graham is the ugly face of the TAC’s latest campaign to reduce the state’s road toll.
Graham serves to highlight how susceptible the human body is to the forces involved in transport accidents.
A school curriculum has been developed to enhance the learning experience for students visiting Graham in person during a roadshow around Victoria or online. The roadshow does not include the south-west. Why? Our lives are just as important as those in Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, Mildura, Shepparton and Gippsland. And the issues on our roads are just the same as those in other regional centres.
Gearing Graham’s campaign towards school aged children before they start learning how to drive will hopefully have a major impact on their psyche – a graphic reminder of what can really happen when they get behind the wheel of what is essentially a deadly weapon.
What we need is a generational change in driving attitudes – speed and distractions kill – and our children hold the key. There is no sugar-coating serious injury and death. Graham needs to be at the forefront of everyone’s mind when they get behind the wheel and a visit to the south-west would drive home the message.
