VIC Govt invests $1.1bn to make local roads safer
The Victorian Government has launched its second Road Safety Action Plan at the end of 2024, aiming to deliver life-saving road safety works over the next four years to help reduce road trauma.
The State Government is investing more than $1.1 billion until 2028, including $350 million in new initiatives in the updated plan to help prevent serious crashes on Victorian roads.
This significant funding will deliver critical road safety infrastructure such as safety barriers on high-risk curves, rural and urban roads.
The Road Safety Action Plan will also fund infrastructure improvements at over 100 high-risk sites across the State to protect vulnerable road users like cyclists and pedestrians.
About 295 lives were tragically lost on Victorian roads in 2023 – the highest since 2008 – while 279 lives were lost in 2024.
Contributing factors to the road toll include travelling over the speed limit, distractions, drink and drug driving, not wearing a seatbelt, driving while fatigued and less safe older cars.
“Road trauma is a complex challenge and sadly the contributing factors are not new – speeding, not wearing a seatbelt, drink and drug driving, driving while distracted or fatigued and less safe older cars.
“By investing in safer infrastructure and targeting high-risk behaviours, this plan builds on our record investment in road safety in order to save lives, reduce injuries, and prevent crashes before they happen,” Minister for Roads and Road Safety Melissa Horne said.
The updated Road Safety Action Plan targets these risky behaviours by expanding the Distracted Driving and Seatbelt Camera Program which cracks down on drivers using mobile phones or driving without wearing a seatbelt.
Speed and red-light cameras will continue playing a key role in reducing speeding which contributes to about 30 per cent of fatal incidents on Victorian roads.
The Road Safety Action Plan 2 was developed by the Victorian Road Safety Partners, and it is the second to be delivered under the Victorian Road Safety Strategy 2021-2030.
Source: Premier of Victoria – Media Centre; Infrastructure Magazine
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