Saving Lives Campaign is designed to kick start a new conversation in the country

Saving Lives On Country Roads aims to highlight the hidden crisis unfolding almost daily on the state’s regional road network, a crisis which is devastating families and communities.

In the five years 2012 to 2016 , six people have lost their lives and 137 people have sustained serious injuries through road crashes in the Griffith Local Government Area. 

Griffith City Council's Road Safety and Traffic Officer Greg Balind has expressed concern over the accidents.

"There are many challenges on country roads including the need to travel long distances, road side hazards and wild life that means there is little room for mistakes,” Mr Balind said.

The campaign is designed to kick start a new conversation in the country by challenging the ‘yeah but!’ attitude of excuses many drivers make to justify taking deadly risks on our roads like speeding, drink and drug driving, driving tired and not wearing seatbelts.

Mayor John Dal Broi has also thrown his full support behind the Saving Lives on Country Roads campaign and has urged drivers to take extra care on our roads at all times, not just on Christmas.

"Any death resulting from a car accident is devastating so I ask all drivers to please be aware of the unpredictable nature of country roads and to drive to the conditions." Cr Dal Broi said.

Member for Murray Austin Evans has also welcomed the campaign.

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“We need to face up to the fact that far too many country people are dying on our roads,” Mr Evans said.

He said in the Murray electorate, 47 people have lost their lives and 366 were seriously injured in the past five years.

The new $3.4 million dollar campaign is part of the NSW Government’s vision of a future free of road trauma and the goal of no deaths and serious injuries on our roads.