Road safety summit sees $32.5m boost to regional WA roads after highest road toll in almost a decade

More than $32 million will be spent to boost road safety in regional WA, with two new drug and alcohol buses and a fleet of “highly visible” police cars sent to dangerous routes amid the worst death toll in almost a decade. The funding allocation, through the Road Trauma Trust Account, will see $20m in safety treatments allocated for local roads in the regions over the next four years. The two new breath and drug testing buses will cost $8.6m and another $1.8m was set aside for traffic data gathering — which police say boosts accessibility to information obtained by organisations such as Main Roads in a bid to stop bad driving behaviour. A fleet of 44 police cars wrapped in colourful text that reads “Highway Patrol” was among upgrades announced following an emergency road safety summit this week. Road Safety Minister David Michael said the announcement came after the emergency roundtable on Monday heard safety concerns from families of loved ones killed in crashes. Since the regional road safety program was announced in 2020, more than 9000km of regional roads have received upgrades such as shoulder widening, sealing and having audible lines installed. Deputy Premier Rita Saffioti said a total of 10,000km of regional roads was scheduled to be upgraded by mid-next year as part of the funding boost. “Our analysis shows in those areas, where we have undertaken those safety treatments, there is a reduction in the killed or serious injury incidents by 40 or 50 per cent,” she said. “It shows that is working.” Ms Saffioti confirmed no changes to speed limits in regional WA, or changes to rules for P-platers, had been made as part of the announcement. There have been 127 fatalities recorded on WA roads this year — 23 more than the same time last year. Of the deaths, 76 were in regional WA while 51 were in the metropolitan area. Police Minister Paul Papalia said the buses could be deployed anywhere in the State. “It includes missing 44 vehicles in this high-vis wrap . . . it will also include, importantly, 7900 (additional) police patrols and camera hours around the State,” he said. “This is a huge uplift in the response, as identified in the road safety summit, to be seen, to be out there, particularly in our regions delivering the message to deliver the message people need to comply with the rules on the road.” Commissioner Col Blanch said the additional 8000 hours of patrols — as part of Operation Regional Influence — would be possible through new recruits being placed into the division. The announcement comes after the father of Nick Campo — the 18-year-old boy who was killed in a crash in July — left an emergency road summit this week feeling ‘optimistic’ action would be taken by the Government to curb deaths across WA. The summit was called by Premier Roger Cook as the State’s road fatalities climbed to a 10-year high. Daniel Campo, who in the wake of his son’s death launched the “Call Out for Nick” campaign to educate young drivers about taking risks on the road, addressed the roundtable about his family’s trauma. Since Tuesday, five people had already died in crashes on WA roads — including an 18-year-old boy who was thrown through his car windscreen after crashing into multiple trees.