National focus on road safety will save lives.

Australasia’s independent vehicle safety authority, ANCAP, has welcomed the Federal Opposition’s commitment to prioritise vehicle safety to reduce road trauma.

Motions were moved at the Australian Labor Party’s National Conference this week supporting the establishment of a National Office of Road Safety, and the further promotion of independent vehicle safety ratings to accelerate the uptake of vehicle safety technologies.

“Strong bi-partisan support and leadership on road safety must continue if we are to see real gains made in reducing deaths & serious injuries on our roads,” ANCAP Director – Communications & Advocacy, Rhianne Robson said.

“The number of lives lost this year is down slightly, and we trust this will continue through the holiday period, yet progress to meet national targets has stalled so we need to look at ways to overcome the challenge.”

“With more than 2.7 million registered vehicles on our roads aged 15 years or older, we must focus attention on accelerating the uptake of vehicles with the latest safety technologies and implement strategies and set targets to reduce the age of the fleet.”

“A key element to improving the safety of the fleet is improving new vehicle accessibility and affordability.”

“This requires leadership not just from governments, but from the automotive, mobility, finance and insurance sectors,” Mrs Robson said.