By NICOLE VALICEK
HOBSONS Bay has experienced one of the biggest annual increases in local road fatalities according to the latest statistical summary by the Transport Accident Commission (TAC).
According to the data Hobsons Bay, Boroondara and Port Phillip munipalities had the biggest increase in local fatalities in the 12 months to the end of September 2013.
Four fatalities occurred in Hobsons Bay in 2013, compared to one in 2012 and none in 2011, up 300 per cent from last year.
However, as at midnight 23 October 2013, overall fatalities in Victoria are down 19 per cent compared to the same time last year.
But TAC’s Chief Executive Officer Janet Dore said with 182 lives lost on Victorian roads this year, it was important to remember there were still 182 families grieving for a loved one.
Ms Dore said the TAC’s latest statistical summary, released last Wednesday, showed that Victorians still needed to take care on the roads.
“The summary shows that in the 12 months to the end of September 2013, fatalities in Melbourne reduced by 16 per cent compared to the previous year,” Ms Dore said.
But she said despite this many localities, including Hobsons Bay, have seen a tragic increase in local road trauma.
Ms Dore said the TAC is urging Victorians not to be complacent about road safety, despite a downward trend in the road toll.
“The TAC is working with our Road Safety partners, the Government and the community to implement the ‘safe system’ approach: to have safer people in safer cars on safer roads at safer speeds.”
The Safe System recognises that it’s not one single action, but a range of initiatives that address all aspects of the road network that will reduce the road toll.
