If you regularly drive Waitpinga, Goolwa, Range or Deep Creek Road, chances are you’ve seen a sign, road marker or driven on a road made safer by the Fleurieu Road Safety Group (FRSG).
The group is responsible for a range of road safety slogans around the Fleurieu region.
The ‘UR M8 CAN W8’ slogan reminds people not to text and drive, or the ‘pass a bus at 25, help a child stay alive’ advertisement on the side of buses dramatically reduced the incidence of speeding past school buses.
Last but not least, the ‘measure your distance from the car in front’ sign at the top of Willunga Hill.
“These signs and campaigns have kept people alive,” said co-founding member and chairman of the Fleurieu Road Safety Group, Michael Scott.
“If we can change the driving behaviour of just one driver and prevent a serious accident, we’ve done our job.”
Mr Scott, a paramedic with 50 years of experience and Terry Sweetman, another co-founder of the group, with 30 years of experience working for the CFS and 50 years as a truck driver, are not strangers to Fleurieu roads.
In their time, both Mr Scott and Mr Sweetman have attended multiple accidents – some of them fatal.
Mr Scott and Mr Sweetman are passionate about making Fleurieu roads safer and encouraging drivers to be aware of the dangers of country driving.
The rollout of regional road safety groups, such as the FRSG was an initiative of the state government back in 1998, with inaugural meetings taking place across regional South Australia shortly after that.
Back then, the three local Fleurieu councils attended the FRSG monthly meetings, as well as members of the State Government body responsible for transport at the time and South Australia Police.
Since then, a decline in the number of regional road safety groups, including the closure of McLaren and Morphett Vale groups, has resulted in less communication between the groups and transport authorities.
“We only meet every second month now and none of these groups or departments are represented any longer,” Mr Scott said.
“It’s unfortunate that we don’t have the same amount of influence or communication with people who make decisions about our roads as we used to, we’ve been driving these roads for decades, we know them well.”
FRSG are open to new members and Mr Sweetman said their current focus was to try and attract young members, especially those who know about driving and have experience behind the wheel, but also know about the technology available today and what risks are specific to younger drivers.
“The road toll this year is terrible and the number of young drivers who have died on our roads goes to show there is a message that needs to be made… FRSG want to make that message clear and save lives,” Mr Sweetman said.
