Committee Aims To Make Bass Coast Roads Safer The community road safety committee: Back row: (l- r): Keith Jones, Di Campbell, Helen Padalini, Guy Wilson-Browne, Norm Deacon. Front row: (l-r): Tom Mallaghan, John Gains, Bert Terlingen, Brian Sheean. Absent: Sgt Russell Fraser and Ted Jeffery Promoting community awareness and education By Carol McCormack - 2nd December 2002 - Back to News Members of the new Bass Coast Community Road Safety Plan Committee met for the first time last week. The committee includes five community representatives, Council officers, VicRoads officers and Victoria Police officers.
The first meeting of the committee was primarily an opportunity to meet other committee members and discuss the committee’s role. However, members also talked about how the actions in the plan can be implemented by Council and the community.
Some of the initiatives discussed at the meeting included:
The Bass Coast Community Road Safety Plan was developed after extensive consultation with the community. It outlines road safety issues and how they can be addressed.
The Plan is a key tool for promoting community awareness and education. The objective of the Plan is to reduce the incidence and severity of road crashes in the Shire by education programs, increased use of community networks and increased road safety resources at the local level.
Cr John Gains, Mayor of Bass Coast Shire Council, is chairing the community committee. He believes that the challenge of increasing road safety in Bass Coast is made more difficult due to the large influx of traffic during tourist season.
"Visitors to the area are not familiar with the roads and other road users such as milk tankers and cattle trucks," said Cr Gains. "The touring drivers’ behaviour is generally different to the commuter drivers’ and this can be a dangerous mix."
The Committee agreed that the high number of injuries and fatalities on roads in Bass Coast can be attributed to driver behaviour, which means that educating the community is critical to improving road safety.
Copies of the plan are available at all Council customer service centres and on Council’s website at www.basscoast.vic.gov.au
Source: www.gippsland.com Published by: news@gippsland.com
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