If we can’t stop focusing only on speed as a factor in road fatalities, there seems little reason to hope for a dramatic reduction in the road toll. Put bluntly, time has come to change how we approach road safety and cut out the fixation on speeding.
I’m not for one second suggesting speeding isn’t dangerous, but ever since I was a kid (which was a long time ago) speed has been the priority for law enforcement and governments in the fight to reduce on-road deaths. Sure, there’s been increases in random breath testing and more recently random drug testing, but speed remains the overwhelming priority for officials.
That needs to change.
A recent report from the Australian Automobile Association (AAA) painted a pretty bleak picture. Despite a national strategy that was agreed to by all the states and implemented in 2021, the road toll is increasing. It’s up more than three per cent in the first half of 2024, making it the worst first half of a year on our roads in 15 years.
Cars are safer than ever before, with a huge array of both passive and active safety enhancements across every sector of the market. Australia has a fairly young fleet average across the country too, so it feels like one side of the equation is doing the work required, but still the serious injuries and deaths continue to increase.
So why are we sticking with a plan that’s clearly not working? Why aren’t we, as both motorists or pedestrians and voters, demanding our governments do a better job?
Fining drivers for speeding is fine – you break the rules, you pay the price. But that’s a deterrent once a driver is on the road and already has bad habits. Perhaps the time has come to treat driver training and education differently.
If the governments of Australia are serious about reducing the road toll, we could start investing more heavily into driver training from the very beginning of the process. My daughter recently reached driving age and it’s frankly bizarre how little things have changed since I got my licence more than 20 years ago.
Sure, these days you can do an online course to get your learners permit and you need to spend a set number of hours behind the wheel to qualify for your provisional licence in many states. But most young drivers are still primarily taught by their parents, so any bad habits the parent has will naturally get passed on to the next generation.
Imagine if we didn’t send kids to school and instead every child was homeschooled, leaving the parents to teach whatever they want? Then, in life if you ever get any question wrong you get fined by the police. Sounds like a terrible idea, right? So why do we allow it with something as life-and-death important as driving?
But the same is true of all of us who passed our driving test years ago and have never been tested again. Not to sound superior, but the standard of driving in Australia in 2025 is shocking. There is a general lack of awareness from many drivers and clearly a lot of bad habits handed down from one generation to the next and then ingrained over the years.
Personally, I would have no problem going back for a driving test every decade to ensure that the standard of driving is improved. That may even put off many people that don’t really ‘enjoy’ driving but do it out of convenience, which would arguably be better for everyone involved.
As far as I’m concerned, at the core of the issue is the notion that driving is a right and not a privilege. Driving a car means being responsible for more than 2000kg of metal at speeds up to 110km/h – that shouldn’t be something taken lightly.
The road safety authorities, governments and law enforcement need to work together to come up with a better plan, something more proactive to improve the standard of driving before we get into trouble rather than constantly punishing us after we’ve made the mistake.
Only then will we make a serious impact on reducing the road toll.
Tell us what you think. Do you think there is too much emphasis on speeding? What is your idea to reduce the road toll?
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