The national administrative arrangements for managing and policing road safety across Australia are to be reviewed.
Minister for Transport, Michael McCormack has announced the Review of National Road Safety Governance in response to the recent independent inquiry which found widespread shortcomings in the present arrangements.
The damning independent report into the National Road Safety Strategy (NRSS) found that vital targets were not being met, intentions were not being implemented and the lives of up to 12,000 people could be lost in the next 10 years if the shortcomings were not addressed.
Mr McCormack said the new Review would be an important step in improving capability and accountability, as well as informing how best to implement other recommendations from the report made by the independent panel.
He said it was important for work on the Review to start as soon as possible, and that he would be discussing its scope with State and Territory Ministers when the Council of Australian Governments’ Transport and Infrastructure Council held its first consideration of the inquiry report next month.
“The Governance Review is a vital first step in following through on the inquiry’s 12 recommendations,” Mr McCormack said.
In a separate development, Melbourne University’s Australian Integrated Multimodal EcoSystem (AIMES) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the American State of Michigan to facilitate collaboration on high-tech vehicle and road systems.
Governor of Michigan, Rick Snyder said the MoU built on Michigan’s efforts to accelerate the worldwide implementation of connected and automated vehicle technologies.
“This agreement establishes a great partnership through which we will share research and knowledge between Michigan and Australia in the development and deployment of intelligent vehicle transportation to ensure technology and safety go hand-in-hand with progress,” Governor Snyder said.
