Experts call for change as SA headed for worst road toll in a decade

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The road toll in South Australia could be the worst in a decade if the current trajectory continues. 88 people have died on the road in SA so far this year which is already significantly higher than last year's toll.

Transcript

00:00 Sean Tosold's sister was killed in a car crash 25 years ago, but to him it still feels like

00:07 yesterday.

00:09 People were helping her on the side of the road, covering her up with blankets and stuff

00:13 like that and yeah, it slowly started to filter in that it was her.

00:18 Emma Tosold was a passenger travelling with an inexperienced driver on South Australia's

00:23 Ayr Peninsula.

00:24 The wet roads were a little bit too much for the young girl and she went off the road and

00:30 Emma hit the tree, had a light side on and was killed instantly.

00:35 She was one of 168 people killed on SA roads in 1998.

00:40 More than two decades on, the number of people dying on SA roads is again surging, which

00:45 has police concerned.

00:47 Speeding is definitely a causal factor that has increased.

00:52 It's contributing well over 30% to fatal collisions.

00:57 Anna Gallimore's job is to investigate those collisions.

01:00 She says there's often a common factor.

01:03 Quite possibly complacency.

01:06 Complacency for me might come down to speed that somebody's driving at.

01:10 It might come down to the drinks that they've consumed.

01:13 The state's peak motoring body, the RAA, has also raised concerns about the condition of

01:18 South Australia's road network.

01:20 It says maintenance funding should be a priority for governments to help reduce road trauma.

01:25 The state government allocated almost $100 million in its most recent budget towards

01:30 road safety.

01:31 Experts say there's a need to look at the bigger picture.

01:34 The reality is over the next 10 years we're set to kill about 1,000 people in South Australia

01:39 alone.

01:40 So what we're actually doing is set to harm future generations and what we need is a long-term

01:45 strategic approach to fix the system as a whole.

01:48 To those directly impacted, the ramifications continue.

01:52 Just all these little things that she's missed out on.

01:56 To this day you just want her here just to go through.

01:59 She missed out on my daughter's birth, now my grandson is here and yeah, she's just missed

02:04 out on so much.

02:06 Grief that never goes away.

02:07 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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