The Road Safety Advisory Council has partnered with the Hawthorn Football Club to dedicate Saturday’s match against St Kilda as a Road Safety round.
It’s part of National Road Safety Week activities, for which Tasmania is the host state, and focuses on reducing death and serious injuries on our roads.
Now in its 11th year, National Road Safety Week is the initiative of Safer Australian Roads and Highways (SARAH) Group. The week was established by Peter Frazer after his 23-year-old daughter was killed in a preventable road crash.
“Our partnership with the Hawthorn Football Club helps promote safe driving behaviours and raise awareness of road trauma in the community,” said the Chair of the Road Safety Advisory Council, Scott Tilyard.
“The opportunity to have Saturday’s game a designated Road Safety Round provides us with the perfect stage to get the road safety message out to a wide audience.
“The Tasmanian Government and Road Safety Advisory Council is continuing to work on a number of strategies to reduce the road toll as part of its Towards Zero Action Plan, but at the end of the day we need all road users to make safe choices on our roads – all road crashes are preventable,” said Mr Tilyard.
Last year 36 people were killed on Tasmania’s roads and more than 300 were seriously injured. Eight people have died on the state’s roads this year and 114 seriously injured.
The Head of Tasmanian Operations for Hawthorn, David, Cox, said Hawthorn is happy to be able to add its voice to the chorus of those calling for Tasmanians to Drive so Others Survive.
“We want this game to act as a platform to start conversations about safe driving,” said Mr Cox.
“Many of our match visitors are young people who may be just starting out on their driving journey. The earlier we can instil safe driving behaviours the better.
“It’s an honour to be supporting the RSAC and the SARAH Group during National Road Safety Week in Tasmania this year.”
The President of the SARAH Group, Peter Frazer, welcomed the opportunity to combine football and road safety.
“This is a great way to start a conversation with football fans and their families and friends about road safety as our theme this year is All road safety is local, drive so others survive!“,” said Mr Frazer.
“We are committed to promoting road safety throughout the community and help foster communities where every individual embraces the responsibility of protecting those who are vulnerable on their roads so every single road user can get home safe, every day, without exceptions.”
“We hope this collaboration will inspire fans, players and communities to prioritise road safety.”
As part of National Road Safety Week activities, a “Swapping Seats” activation will be set up at UTas Stadium ahead of Saturday’s afternoon’s game.
Organised by the Bicycle Network, Swapping Seats aims to educate vulnerable road users about the blind spots on large trucks and how to keep safe on our roads.
Visitors to the ground are encouraged to stop by the activation and jump in the driver’s seat of the truck to see firsthand the challenges that can come with driving a large vehicle.