LEETON mayor Paul Maytom is worried we’re killing and maiming ourselves on the road.
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He’s so concerned he has taken a motion all the way to the Local Government NSW conference calling for the state government to extend the “application of rumble strips as a very effective road safety measure”.
“This is something that really is close to my heart,” councillor Maytom said.
“You might think it’s a strange thing to take something like this to a state conference, but at the end of the day if you have one person dying in a fatigue-related accident, that’s someone’s family member and it’s devastating.”
A rumble strip is series of raised strips across a road or along its edge, changing the noise a vehicle's tyres make on the surface and so warning drivers of speed restrictions, fatigue or the edge of the road.
Cr Maytom said the motion had been wholeheartedly accepted by all at the conference.
“Rumble strips have been found to be the most effective way to prevent fatigue-related deaths on country roads,” he said.
“I myself know when I’ve been driving and gone over to these rumble strips and had that jolt it does give you a start and you think ‘gee I need to be more alert’.
“I’m not saying we put them on every road, but let’s get out there and put them where there’s been accidents and where it’s going to save lives.
“We’re losing too many people on our country roads and many times it’s related to fatigue. That’s what the police are telling us.”
Driver fatigue is one of the top three contributors to the road toll.
Research has shown fatigue can be as dangerous as other road safety issues, such as drink driving.
However, unlike drink driving, there are no laws regulating driver fatigue.
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Public education campaigns are currently the only way to address driver fatigue for car drivers and motorcyclists.
“Those things, like Driver Reviver and the ads on television all have a place, but we need to be more proactive and these rumble strips are the way to go,” Cr Maytom said.