Australia Post has called on motorists to take more care and be alert to postal workers after 768 posties were injured on Australia’s roads in the past financial year.
Group Executive Safety, Wellbeing and Safety Management at Australia Post, Peter Bass said the Agency is to allocate $30 million in safety over the next 12 months.
“On average, every workday, three posties are injured in motor vehicle accidents nationally, often involving other vehicles,” Mr Bass said.
“One injury is one too many, and to have 768 across the country is just not acceptable. We ask drivers to be alert, slow down and remove distractions.”
He said Australia Post was always looking for ways to keep its employees and the communities in which they worked safe, especially as the busy Christmas period was looming.
“One of the things we are doing is replacing motorcycles on appropriate rounds with electric-assisted bikes and electric delivery vehicles, which are safer modes of transport.” Mr Bass said.
“Peak delivery season is only weeks away, and as we get ready to support the community in the lead up to Christmas we ask drivers to watch out for other road users, slow down, minimise distractions and put away their mobile phones.”
Mr Bass said that in tackling safety from the ground up, distracted drivers were just one of the issues posties needed to deal with when on their rounds.
“Unrestrained dogs, reversing cars and drivers speeding through roundabouts also pose a risk to not just our people, but other road users and pedestrians,” he said.
“Our work to address these issues will help us create a safer environment for everyone.
Australis Post’s statistics show that Queensland had the highest number of postie injuries in 2017-18 (213) followed by Victoria (195) and NSW (174).
The safest was Tasmania (11).
