Driving Safety

Source: Driving Safety

The campaign reminds drivers that behaviour that is not considered extreme, like tailgating, speeding and mobile phone use while driving, all contribute to motor vehicle accidents and deaths on the road.

Improving road safety and achieving zero road deaths and serious injuries by 2050 is a collective effort. That’s why this campaign is designed to build on the efforts of states, territories and local governments and encourage drivers to do their part in keeping our roads safe.

Road safety is always a priority and that is why the Albanese Government has been increasing funding for local roads since 2022 and acted on long-standing calls for better safety data.

We have moved to double funding for Roads to Recovery to $1 billion a year and since then over 2000 projects have been approved, 1390 will have started by the end of December and more than 690 are due to be completed by the end of this year.

That means more potholes are being fixed, more kerbs are being replaced, more roads are being resealed, and more grading and drainage is being done.

We are also increasing the Black Spot program to $150 million per year, and revising it so more projects are eligible, and at least $200 million per year is under the Safer Local Roads and Infrastructure Program.

The $2.9 billion Road Safety Program continues to deliver over 1800 projects, improving the safety of over 1,910 kilometres of Australia’s road network.

We have also reversed the previous Coalition Government decision in 2014 to freeze road maintenance funding for national highways, not only permanently indexing it but also back-paying the amount lost by the freeze.

Through our latest funding agreements with the States and Territories, we are increasing the road safety data collected in order to better inform responses to road trauma and the concerning increase in road deaths.

The Albanese Government will continue to prioritise road safety and hope that at this time of year, everyone will do their part by driving responsibly to ensure that everyone can enjoy time with family and friends.

The campaign and an executive summary of the research that informed it can be found at saferdrivingstartswithyou.gov.au.