Local government has welcomed the release of a consultation draft of the National Road Safety Strategy 2011-20.

The objective of the national strategy is to reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries on Australian roads by at least 30 per cent annually.
Local government is responsible for more than 650,000 kilometres or 80 per cent of all roads in Australia.

Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) president Genia McCaffery welcomed the national approach to reducing the annual road toll.

“Road crashes cause the death of some 1500 people and 30,000 serious injuries every year on Australian roads," Cr McCaffery said in a statement.

"Ultimately no death or serious injury on our roads is acceptable."

Cr McCaffery said the national draft strategy had a greater emphasis on local roads.

“The internationally recognised ‘safe system’ approach adopted in the draft Strategy accepts that people using the road network will make mistakes and therefore the whole 'system' needs to be made as safe as possible to ensure it is more forgiving of human errors,” Cr McCaffery said.

“This means improving the safety of roads, adding safety features to cars, making sure people obey speed limits and the road rules, and having the appropriate sanctions for road users who demonstrate irresponsible behaviour.”

Cr McCaffery advised state local government associations and individual councils to review the draft strategy and provide feedback.