The Transport Accident Commission has cautioned road users in Brimbank to drive at safe speeds following the release of the latest road fatality figures.
The TAC’s 2014 Road Safety Statistical Summary, released last Tuesday, contains a comparative 12-month rolling toll of fatalities across the state up to June 30.
The figures show there were eight fatalities on Brimbank roads in the 12 months to June 2014 – up on last year’s toll of six deaths on local roads, and also slightly up on the local government area’s five-year annual average of seven. But TAC chief executive officer Janet Dore said while the number of fatalities in Brimbank had risen slightly in the past year, they remained 27 per cent lower than in 2012.
“Any death or serious injury on Victorian roads is devastating, particularly when it happens on local roads and involves people from local communities,” Ms Dore said.
“The Brimbank community has experienced eight road fatalities in the past 12 months, two more than in the previous year and that is not a figure that’s easy to accept,” she said.
Road fatalities were significantly up in Melton, with nine casualties in 2013-14, six more than in the previous 12 months.
Brimbank highway patrol’s Sergeant Bill Joannidis said the local police outfit had dealt with a 30 per cent reduction in serious-injury collisions, making the latest fatality figures something of an anomaly. “It’s rare that serious injuries decrease and fatal incidents increase.”
Sergeant Joannidis said the spike in the new figures could be attributed to two fatal accidents involving pedestrians on Ballarat Road in May.
“Police have been targeting our high-collision roads in Brimbank such as Taylors, Main, Station, Ballarat and Western Ring roads, which has seen a reduction in these serious-injury collisions,” he said.
The data also details claims made to the TAC involving hospitalisation following an accident. At least one positive can be taken from the figures, which show just three people lodged claims involving prolonged stays in hospital due to an incident involving a train or tram, with just three claims made, compared to 10 last year.
