Road safety summit sees $32.5m boost to regional WA roads after highest road toll in almost a decade

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Road safety summit sees $32.5m boost to regional WA roads after highest road toll in almost a decade

More than $32 million in funding has been announced to boost road safety in regional WA, which will see two new ***** and alcohol buses and a fleet of “highly visible” police cars sent to dangerous routes amid the worst ****** toll in almost a decade.

The Cook Government says the funding allocation, through the Road Trauma Trust Account, will see $20m in safety treatments allocated for local government roads in the regions over the next four years.

Two new breath and ***** testing buses will cost $8.6m and another $1.8m has been set aside for traffic data gathering — which police say will boost their accessibility to information obtained by organisations such as Main Roads in a bid to stop bad driving behaviour.

A fleet of 44 police cars wrapped in colourful text that reads “Highway Patrol” is among the upgrades that were announced following an emergency road safety summit this week.

Camera IconRoad Safety Minister David Michael. Credit: Daniel Wilkins/The West ***********

Since the Road Trauma Trust account was established in 2020, the government says more than 8000km of regional roads received upgrades such as shoulder widening, road sealing and audible lines installed.

Deputy Premier Rita Saffioti said another 10,000km would receive upgrades by mid-next year as part of the funding boost.

“Our analysis shows in those areas, where we have undertaken those safety treatments, there is a reduction in the ******* or serious injury incidents by four or fifty per cent,” she said.

“It shows that is working.

Minister Saffioti confirmed no changes to speed limits in regional WA, or changes to rules for P-platers, had been made as part of the announcement.

There have been 126 fatalities recorded on WA roads this year — 22 more than the same time last year.

Of the deaths, 75 were in regional WA while 51 were in the metropolitan area.

Police Minister Paul Papalia said the two new buses could be deployed “anywhere” in the State.

data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==Camera IconPolice Minister Paul Papalia. Credit: Daniel Wilkins/The West ***********

“It includes missing 44 vehicles in this high-vis wrap… it will also include, importantly, 7900 (additional) police patrols and camera hours around the state,” he said.

“This is a huge uplift in the response, as identified in the road safety summit, to be seen, to be out there, particularly in our regions delivering the message to deliver the message people need to comply with the rules on the road.”

Commissioner Col Blanch said the additional 8000 hours of patrols — as part of Operation Regional Influence — would be possible through new recruits being placed into the division.

The announcement comes after the father of Nick Campo — the 18-year-old boy who was ******* in a ****** in July — left an emergency road summit this week feeling ‘optimistic’ action would be taken by the Government to curb deaths across WA.

The summit was called by Mr Michael as the State’s road fatalities climbed to a 10-year high.

Daniel Campo, who in the wake of his son’s ****** launched the “Call Out for Nick” campaign to educate young drivers about taking risks on the road, addressed the roundtable about his family’s trauma.

Since Tuesday, five people had already ***** in crashes on WA roads — including an 18-year-old boy who was thrown through his car windscreen after crashing into multiple trees.

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