Transport for NSW is urging drivers to take care on NSW roads as the number of people dying while not wearing a seatbelt or speeding has doubled compared to the same time last year.
Transport for NSW said that between March and July this year, 65 people died in speed related crashes on NSW roads.
The Agency said this number was up from 27 per cent of all fatalities during the same period last year to 54 per cent this year, and 17 people died while not wearing an available seatbelt, up from nine per cent last year to 22 per cent this year.
Minister for Transport and Roads, Andrew Constance said people were staying home more due to COVID-19 but it was important that no one become complacent on roads as a result.
“Too many people are dying on roads close to home during this health crisis,” Mr Constance said.
“Nearly 70 per cent of those who died when they weren’t wearing a seatbelt crashed on a road in their local area,” he said.
“These aren’t just figures, they are people.”
He said it was people who are “missed by their families, their friends, their colleagues and their communities simply because someone decided to speed or didn’t think it was important to put on a seatbelt.”
Mr Constance said it was a privilege and not a right to drive.
“So when you get behind the wheel, make the right choice – slow down and buckle up – it could save your life or someone else’s,” he said.
Deputy Secretary for Safety, Environment and Regulation at Transport for NSW, Tara McCarthy said that men in particular were featuring prominently in the statistics.
“Of the 65 people who’ve died in speed related crashes, 48 were men, and of the 17 driver and passenger fatalities not wearing an available seatbelt 13 were male,” Ms McCarthy said.
