BROADWATER man Russell Smith turned zero to hero on his birthday after he received a call from the Road Safety Commission naming him the winner of their Zero Hero campaign.
Mr Smith was awarded $5000 worth of free fuel to acknowledge his outstanding driving record in regional WA.
Licenced to drive cars and heavy vehicles, Mr Smith won the prize after he was selected from hundreds of thousands of motorists who had not incurred any demerit points over the past three years.
Mr Smith said as he grew older he had become more safety conscious on the roads and was something he always tried to do.
“I had a cousin die a few years ago in a road accident so being a safe driver is always close to my heart,” he said.
“You just need to take your time and you will get there.
“I take my time and do not be an idiot, it costs too much if you get caught speeding anyway.”
The WA Commissioner of Road Safety Kim Papalia was in Busselton to hand Mr Russell his award and start a conversation with community members about how road safety could be improved in the South West.
Mr Papalia said the reality for people in regional WA was they were four times more likely to be killed or seriously injured in a car crash than the metropolitan area.
Road safety is ultimately relevant to everyone in the community particularly so in regional WA where the distances are far greater between towns than any other jurisdiction in the world.
- WA Road Safety commissioner Kim Papalia
“The time it takes to travel between towns in regional WA is unique and that represents risks on our roads and the mix of traffic we have on our roads,” he said.
“Everyone has the right to use our roads safely and we have to share our roads but it adds to the complexity of road safety challenges.”
The Road Safety Commission have engaged with community members to find out what the issues and solutions are to improve road safety in the region.
“We are looking for opportunities to engage in major projects in regional WA to reduce the consequences we have seen this year and over the past 10 years,” he said.
Mr Papalia said they were consistently told better roads and better vehicles would improve safety but the challenge was changing attitudes.
He said the Road Safety Commission need to build the expectation that everyone shares the responsibility of road safety and if you drive a vehicle you need to share in that responsibility.
Vasse MP Libby Mettam said it was valuable to have the commissioner in Busselton for the road safety forum.
“I trust important information will be shared about the state’s fastest growing region,” she said.
“It was also fantastic to have a Zero Hero celebrated here in the Vasse electorate, given the key role driver behaviour plays in ensuring road safety.”