SINGLE-VEHICLE incidents continue to feature heavily the Wimmera’s road fatality and crash statistics.
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Provisional figures from the Transport Accident Commission show nine people died on our roads in 2018.
Four of these fatalities – in Horsham Rural City and Northern Grampians Shire – occurred when a car ran off a straight road.
Wimmera Superintendent Paul Margetts said the statistics also included four people who were killed during a horror collision with another vehicle near Navarre in May.
However he said in a large number of road deaths and crashes causing serious injury in the Wimmera, one vehicle was involved.
He said there were a number of region-specific factors that contributed to crashes resulting in death or serious injury.
“The influence of wildlife on the roads is a contributing factor, as is the predominance of 100km/h speed limits, which means vehicles are often travelling faster if a crash occurs,” he said.
“It doesn't mean people are necessarily breaking the speed limit, it just means the consequences if they do so and they crash are worse.”
Superintendent Margetts said despite the highest number of road fatalities in the region since 2015, driver behaviour in general was improving on Wimmera roads.
“We've seen a change in driver behaviour in the past two years,” he said.
“What we're seeing is a higher number of intentional high-risk driving from a small number of individuals, such as driving at high speeds on the highway network.
“The number of drug drivers we're apprehending is quite high and concerning, but there's a reducing number of people driving with alcohol in their blood.
“So we're seeing a change in driver culture in relation to alcohol, but it's getting slightly worse in relation to drug driving.”
Superintendent Margetts said driver distraction from mobile phone use was also an area of concern for police
“Our detections for mobile use are steadily increasing,” he said.
Transport Accident Commission data for the six months to June 2018 shows there were 56 claims relating to crashes involving hospitalisation in the Wimmera.
About half of these crashes occurred in Horsham Rural City, with 12 in Northern Grampians and six in Ararat Rural City.
Hindmarsh was the only municipality in the Wimmera without a claim of this nature.
Meanwhile, Victoria last year recorded its lowest road toll since 2013, with 214 lives lost in 2018.
Victoria Police head of road policing operations John Fitzpatrick said road safety education and wire median barriers had helped reduce the number of fatalities.
“While the number of lives lost is the lowest ever, we need to remember that we’re talking about people whose lives have been tragically cut short and families who have lost loved ones. One life lost is one too many,” he said.
“We should also remember that while there are fewer fatalities, thousands of Victorians suffer serious and life-changing injuries on our roads each year. This is the hidden cost of road trauma.
“Police and our road safety partners are determined to prevent and reduce road trauma, which is why we put so much effort into enforcing the law and educating people about the risks of unsafe behaviour.
“Everyone has a part to play in this effort. Too many people think road trauma only happens to other people, but it can happen to you or someone you know, so we all need to take care and look after each other.”