National Road Safety Week kicks off today, a time to reflect on the current poor driving standard in this state, National Road Safety Week the project of Peter Frazer whose daughter Sarah was tragically killed by a truck driver in a totally avoidable crash on the Hume Highway at Mittigong in February 2012. Since then, Peter has devoted his life to improving road safety – founding SARAH, standing for Safer Australian Roads and Highways. The driving force behind Australia’s National Road Safety Week and the road safety symbol the Yellow Ribbon. A campaign suggesting you wear a yellow ribbon on yourself and your car to show your support and make a pledge on the SARAH website – “to drive so others survive” – to me given the total disregard by many motorists to road safety wearing a yellow ribbon on yourself and your car is far too weak a message to what is a worsening problem year on year. We’ve just had two long weekends with increased fatalities and numerous injuries. It’s clear there has been substantial vehicle growth in N.S.W. – a lot of new drivers mainly from overseas with poor knowledge of our road rules and driving conditions – you witness it almost daily – driver behavior and attitude is at an all-time low, and driver education and compliance testing is in need of a radical overhaul. I’m David Berthon

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