Australia’s peak motoring body has welcomed the appointment of Associate Professor Jeremy Woolley and Dr John Crozier to co-chair the Australian Government inquiry into the effectiveness of the National Road Safety Strategy.

Both Professor Woolley and Dr Crozier are highly regarded leaders in their respective fields, and eminently qualified to lead this inquiry, which is of critical importance to all Australians.  Road trauma has a profound impact on the lives of too many Australians each and every day.

The Australian Automobile Association (AAA), campaigned for and welcomed the Government’s establishment of a national inquiry as part of the 2017 Budget and is committed to helping identify the steps needed to address our national road safety challenges.

Australia’s National Road Safety Strategy, signed by all Australian governments in 2011, aims to reduce road deaths and injuries by at least 30 per cent by 2020. Unfortunately, the number of Australian road fatalities is largely unchanged since 2011, and it is of great concern that Australia remains unable to accurately quantify serious road injuries.

AAA Chief Executive Michael Bradley said: “Australia’s National Road Safety Strategy has clearly failed to meet its stated objectives and the work of this Inquiry is a critical first step in determining the approaches and resources that will be required to get things back on track.

“A clear-eyed assessment is needed of the effectiveness of steps taken, an evaluation of whether all recommended approaches have been pursued, and the emerging trends that warrant the development of new responses.

“More than 100 Australians are killed in car crashes every month and the same number are seriously injured every day, so the importance of the task at hand cannot be over-stated.”