This fatal crash wasn't far from Melbourne. It was in central Victoria. Black top all the way and plenty of places for a chopper to put down but it took some 4 hours for trained specialists to get to the crash site.
Serious injury crashes get even less attention.
The Parliamentary Inquiry into Crashes Involving Roadside Objects (2005) reported a number of areas where crash data was missing or could be more detailed.
Isn't it time police got on with policing and left road crashes to an independent road safety & traffic authority with an agenda for road safety only?
LETTERS TO EDITORS
One dead, four fighting for life after another smash in regional
Victoria, this one at Tatura. Eight farm workers in a minibus collide
with a truck (Oct. 13, 2012).
Crashes like this are far too common. A contributory factor in many is
road condition. Small cars, motorcycle & scooter riders and bicyclists
are most a risk from potholes and road debris.
In coming weeks tens of thousands of motorcycling tourists from across
Australia and around the world will ride Victoria's neglected roads
travelling to and from the Moto GP on Phillip Island.
Neglect by road authorities, more interested in big projects and
corporate image than in road repairs and maintenance, contributes to
the road toll. This puts residents at risk and damages our tourist
industry.
It took around four hours for a trained crash investigation team to
reach Tatura. If it had been a serious injury incident an untrained, local
officer would probably have filled in a form. The further a fatal
smash is from Melbourne, the less reliable the data is.
The 2005 Parliamentary Inquiry into Crashes Involving Roadside Objects
found crash site data was inadequate.
TAC officials told the current motorcycle safety inquiry that data was
"cleansed" at VicRoads (TAC quote. August 31, 2012). Then it's
presented as fact. They readily admitted that data on the exact location of a crash
was not collected so roadside objects like wire rope barriers were virtually impossible
to identify in police reports and that hospital data on the type and severity of injuries
could not be linked to specific crashes.
www.parliament.vic.gov.au/rsc/inquiries/article/1407
Crash site data does not expose the size of the pothole problem. Victoria
really is the pothole state and our potholes are adding to the road toll.
Damien Codognotto
Independent Riders' Group
Melbourne
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