Serious Road Casualties a Warning

Media release – Road Safety Advisory Council (RSAC), 21 January 2023

Serious casualties a warning

The Road Safety Advisory Council (RSAC) is pleading with Tasmanian road users to heed road safety warnings as serious casualties are already sitting at 50 per cent more than the same time last year.

RSAC Chair, Scott Tilyard said that we shouldn’t get complacent because we’ve had one less fatality.

“I’m concerned that people might think we are doing better because we’ve had one less fatality than the same time last year.

“But the reality is that serious injuries are crashes that could have almost been a fatality and our serious casualties are already tracking 50 per cent up on last year.

“So far this year we’ve had 26 serious casualties compared to 17 at the same time last year, which includes 12 motorcycle serious casualties, up from 8 at the same time last year. None of these crashes involve visitors to the state, i.e., non-Tasmanians.

“We’ve also recently been notified that the driver of a vehicle that crashed on 17 December last year has subsequently died in hospital. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends at this difficult time.

“This brings the 2022 road toll to 51 – an unacceptably high level which we do not ever want to see repeated.”

“We have eleven more months of the year to go, so please do the right thing when you are driving or riding on the road. Slow down, buckle up, put your phones away and make sure to never drive after drinking or taking drugs. We all need to do our part to make our road safe,” Mr Tilyard said.