Safety
Overall, road transport safety in Australia is of a relatively moderate to high standard. Road quality, safety barrier and features is of a moderate level in urban areas and of a high standard on new roads, however in regional areas and some major highways, road quality is sometimes severely affected by lack of funding and maintenance. Speed is generally limited to around 100 km/h.
Vehicles are generally moderately safe. Many vehicle users cannot afford newer vehicles and as a result, the second-hand car market is quite large. There are many older model vehicles and while they require a Road Worthy Certificate (RWC) to ensure basic operation is sound, only newer vehicles have safety features such as crumple zones, air bags, etc. Seat belt usage is generally very high and it is illegal to go without a seatbelt.
Several efforts have been at educating the mass population about road safety, the most prominent and successful being the Victorian state Transport Accident Commission (TAC) road safety advertisements, began in the late 1980s in print and television, which often depicted horrific and graphic road accidents initiated by various causes such as speed, alcohol and drug use, distraction, fatigue and many others. The TAC ads were very effective and reduced the road toll drastically. The method was subsequently adopted elsewhere in Australia and the world.
Speed limits have been progressively reduced in urban streets, from 60 km/h to 50 km/h and more recently, to 40 km/h near schools, built up areas and shopping strips. This is to ensure safer stopping distances to minimise/reduce pedestrian injuries and casualties.
Read more about this topic: Road Transport In Australia
Famous quotes containing the word safety:
“There is no calamity which a great nation can invite which equals that which follows a supine submission to wrong and injustice and the consequent loss of national self-respect and honor, beneath which are shielded and defended a people’s safety and greatness.”
—Grover Cleveland (1837–1908)
“There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one’s own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind.... Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn’t, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn’t have to; but if he didn’t want to he was sane and had to.”
—Joseph Heller (b. 1923)
“... what a family is without a steward, a ship without a pilot, a flock without a shepherd, a body without a head, the same, I think, is a kingdom without the health and safety of a good monarch.”
—Elizabeth I (1533–1603)