Australia Kicks Off National Road Safety Week

Well-known and iconic Australian landmarks glowed yellow last week as the nation commemorated National Road Safety Week, a seven-day remembrance of the 1,200 lives lost and more than 39,000 seriously injured on Australian roads each year.

The week’s theme, “Drive So Others Survive!”, asked Australians to monitor their own driving behavior to ensure the safety of drivers, passengers and pedestrians.

Among the buildings, bridges, and icons that shone in cautionary yellow were the Kiama lighthouse, New South Wales; Adelaide Convention Center, Queensland; Road Trauma Memorial, Geelong, Victoria; Bridge of Remembrance, Hobart, Tasmania; old Toodyay library, Western Australia; the Royal Australian Mint, Australian Capital Territory; and others, according to the Australasian Fleet Management Association (AfMA).

Following the death of his 23-year old daughter in a car crash in 2012, Peter Frazer and his family established the Safer Australian Roads and Highways (SARAH) Group, which sponsors the Road Safety Week. SARAH campaigns for policy and legislation changes prevent and identify unsafe road conditions.

Road Safety Week’s featured activities focused on different areas of road safety each day:

• Remembering lives lost:
• Protecting vulnerable loves.
• Signing the Road Safety Pledge, at www.oradsafetyweek.com.au  
• Adopting “Move Over/Slow Down tactics to safeguard emergency services, roadside assistance, tow trucks and other roadside services.
• Slowing down to save lives.
• Supporting regional communities, “Drive wo other survive in the country and city.”
• Sharing the road with cyclists and motorcyclists who tied a yellow ribbon on their bikes.
• Arriving home safe.

AfMA also offered its online Drive Safer Resources to Australian fleet drivers.