'Fatigue isn’t a badge of honour': why December is so deadly on rural roads

Hear what you can do to stay safe, and what needs to change to help make the roads safer for everyone.

Transcript

00:00It's December, one of the dangerous and most deadly times to be on the road in New South Wales.

00:05This time each year, transport for New South Wales records a spike in the number of accidents,

00:11injuries and fatalities on our roads across the state. This year already we've seen more than

00:17330 lives lost on our roads and more than 10,000 people injured. Now as we come to the holiday

00:24season, as harvest wraps up and our roads get busier than ever, the question is who's responsible?

00:30For preventing the loss of life, preventing injuries and keeping people safe throughout the season.

00:36Here on Cargo Road in the Central West you can see that there's some pretty serious road damage here

00:40and right in front of me folks are harvesting, loading up the B-doubles and there are plenty

00:44of cars and trucks heading back and forth between towns. Our roads are only getting busier and so

00:50I've set out to find out what can be done to make them safer for everyone and what drivers can do

00:55to help reduce their risk this season. We really see fatigue as a critical problem. I mean it's

01:03it's right up there, we all know what it feels like when it's clouding our judgment, when it's making it

01:08difficult for us to make sound decisions and when those things translate to a road environment

01:12it's incredibly dangerous. We have a terrible habit and I don't think it's just agriculture but we have a

01:17terrible habit in agriculture of saying fatigue is my badge of honour. It's not, it's just reckless.

01:24It's like you wouldn't consider it a badge of honour to drive drunk so don't consider it a badge of honour

01:28to drive when you're exhausted. Are we carrying a swag? Are we doing little things like I would say

01:33to my kids, have you had breakfast? Have you had lunch? Have you had enough to drink? Have you

01:38rolled that swag out and got that those hours of sleep that you couldn't afford to drive home and get

01:44but you could at least make sure you got some half decent rest? Rural roads just are a challenge. We have

01:50potholes and your wildlife and we couple that with often some areas have to deal with bushfires and

01:56heavy rains, less lighting than our city roads. There's just a whole culmination of factors which

02:02make them more challenging to navigate and a more risky driving environment. Be kind to our farmers on

02:07the road and be patient when you see them moving equipment around because remember that your beautiful

02:12Christmas lunch comes courtesy of the work that those farmers are doing so some compassion from everyone

02:18is helpful.