It was my pleasure to welcome Peter Frazer OAM, President of the SARAH Group to the RA office this week. Peter was here to thank RA and our members for supporting National Road Safety Week as a Principal Partner.
With so many road workers now on site helping local communities repair damage from the floods currently affecting south-eastern Australia, Peter’s visit was also a timely reminder of the importance of driving so that others survive.
Just last week, our Spotlight on Safety event in Sydney provided some very stark reminders of the dangers that are faced everyday by those for whom our road network is a workplace.
With so much of the flood damage in the past week occurring in rural and regional communities, many people throughout our industry will be deployed in the coming weeks to work sites where traffic ordinarily flows at high speeds. It’s important to remember that reduced speed limits in and around road road work zones are there to protect both road workers and road users – and that failure to observe those limits can have tragic, life-altering consequences.
It’s also why we need to make sure that industry participants are incentivised and not penalised when it comes to prioritising safety in contracting arrangements.
RA is continuing to work with industry partners to encourage governments around Australia to adopt a procurement model that evaluates investments in safety on a below-the-line basis, and to undertake active enforcement of speed limits in road work zones.
Safety remains RA’s number one policy priority – because everyone deserves to get home safe.
Michael Kilgariff – CEO
