Police determined to drive down road trauma after horror 12 months

Last year saw the worst road toll in a decade with 17 lives lost in western police region division two, which encompasses Warrnambool, Moyne, Corangamite, Glenelg and Southern Grampians local government areas.

Of those, 12 were male and five female.

Transport Accident Commission data shows 10 drivers, three passengers, a motorcyclist and a bicyclist died with two listed as unknown.

The most common aged group was those between 60 and 69 (five people) and the most recurrent crash type was drivers running off a straight road (nine incidents).

Other crash types included adjacent driving, opposing direction, running off a curved road and manoeuvring.

The region saw the most deaths on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

Across the state police identified single acts of non-compliance, or people making basic driving errors, contributed to more than half of the 2023 fatalities.

That included low-range speeding, lower-level drink driving, failing to obey road signs, and distraction, like using a mobile phone while driving.

At least 10 per cent of fatal collisions had one or more vehicle occupants failing to wear a seatbelt.

Extreme behaviours such as driving without a licence, travelling at extreme speeds, high-range drink driving, illicit drug driving or often a combination of these behaviours contributed to about a quarter of fatal collisions in 2023.

Multiple fatality collisions contributed significantly to the increase in lives lost with 14 double fatalities, four quadruple fatalities and two quintuple fatalities.

In May the Hamilton community was rocked with a single-car crash that killed four young people.

Victoria Police road policing Assistant Commissioner Glenn Weir said it had been a horror year on the state's roads.

"The severity of collisions has been especially tragic," he said.

"Simple and avoidable mistakes have resulted in catastrophic outcomes.

"The sheer number of lives lost has been devastating, but we must never forget that these are not numbers but people whose family and friends will mourn their loss for years to come."

Assistant Commissioner Weir urged motorists to stop and reset their behaviour on the roads in 2024.

"All road users should remember they have a responsibility to keep everyone safe," he said.

"In 2024 we'll continue to work with our road safety partners to make the roads a safer place for everybody. For police the focus will be on conducting intelligence-led enforcement that aims to deter offending.

"Ultimately, we want all road users to take responsibility for their actions and make better choices that will keep themselves, their passengers and all road users safe.

"It's up to all of us to ensure we start the New Year with road safety front of mind and make every effort to ensure we don't have another year like 2023."