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Divided roads is definitely the way to reduce road crashes (and deaths).
Having just driven up the pacific hwy to Coffs Harbour a few times over the last couple of months, the work they've been doing is definitely paying off. There's some great stretches of divided roads now, from the F3 to Karuah all the way past Taree, with only a few spots in-between where you have to slow down to 60 and go through some towns. It will only be a matter of time before those towns are bypassed (ok, maybe 20 years).
It's not good for the local businesses when a town is bypassed, but it makes the trip so much better and less risky when there's zero chance of a head-on collision.
The worst part of the trip is leading up to Coffs Harbour, where there was something like 10 fatalities last year. They're finally going to fix the road after years of political finger pointing and buck passing.
No doubt speed is a significant contributor to road accidents, but on winding roads like the pacific hwy, fatigue is probably more of a contributor at holiday time.
I am dubious of the "holiday road toll" figures though - what i'd prefer to see is some sort of ratio of deaths versus cars on the road. Yes there are more deaths at holiday time, but there are also more than double the amount of cars on the road. Is there more than double the amount of deaths (ratio the same?) or is there significantly more than that?
Also some of the deaths they report in the "holiday road toll" clearly had nothing to do with people being on holidays or holiday traffic.
I'm sure there's a better way to put out the statistics but I guess they're going for the maximum impact. If it helps people to slow down I guess it's worth it.
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