Saturday, February 27, 2016

Towards zero on the roads in Oz














Jen Morris said...

From Facebook:

We are certainly helped by more rigorous enforcement of tighter safety laws than the US, which focus on driving as a privilege, not a right (random and instant roadside alcohol and drug testing, traffic safety cameras, lower blood alcohol limit, compulsory seat belts, strict requirements of hours spent training for young drivers, strong band on phone use while driving). We have also been helped along, at least in Victoria, by one of the most successful ongoing advertising campaigns of all time - run for over 25 years by the TAC. Many so powerful, they still come vividly to mind when I am driving. You need only show a Victorian this montage of iconic TAC ads and memories will flood back:

They have helped to create a culture of individual responsibility (instead of rights), and (where relevant) individual blame (instead of 'fate' or 'bad luck'). They have helped to make unsafe driving socially unacceptable, and calling it out a duty, beginning with the famous 'if you drink then drive, you're a bloody idiot' campaign:

There have been concerted efforts to replace the language of 'road accident' with 'road crash', and the passive, fatalist 'died in an accident' with the active, responsibility-promoting 'was killed in a crash'. And the use of real people, as in this one, always hits home:

can'tthinkofone said...

Hi Paul,
I believe the state we are in, Victoria, was the first state in the world to mandate seat belts, in 1970 (the year of my birth). I am now 45 and I do not and have never seen any pushback about wearing of seat belts. To not wear a seat belt is shocking, abnormal behaviour.
I see parallels with gun control. In Australia after the last big gun massacre in Tasmania a few years ago, there were some voices that argued against stricter gun control as interfering with personal liberties. But the argument came back, like seat belt legislation? We can see the massive decrease in road mortality and morbidity as a result of compulsory seat belt use and we in Australia also see a massive decrease in gun deaths after gun control legislation. Gun control legislation and seat belt legislation is very highly valued and supported in the Australian community.
Cheers, sonia