Urgent action is needed to bring down the state's road toll, according to RAA, with a national report issued this week revealing SA will fail to meet its 2020 target to cut deaths and serious injuries.
The National Road Safety Strategy Benchmarking report published by Australian Automotive Association showed, by population, SA is lagging behind Vic, NSW and Qld in its bid to reduce road deaths, and that Australia as a nation is on course to miss its target to reduce road deaths by 30 per cent.
RAA's Road Safety senior manager Charles Mountain said the horror start to 2019, with crash deaths spiralling rather than decreasing, was heartbreaking.
"The 2018 road toll was a record low, but more than 40 tragic crash deaths in the first four months of 2019 have thrown this positive trend firmly into reverse, and devastated the lives of many families'' he said.
The report shows SA has a road fatality rate of 5.23 per 100,000 population, placing it above the national rate of 4.67 and significantly above Vic, which is the state with the lowest road fatality rate of 3.63 per 100,000 population.
"If SA matched Vic's road fatality rate, we would save 28 lives a year based on our current fatality numbers, but to achieve this we need action from all levels of government," Mr Mountain said.
"SA needs to act now to stop the carnage on our roads, so we're calling on the next federal government to adopt all 12 recommendations in the 2018 National Road Safety Strategy Inquiry.
"We welcome the federal government's promise to create a national Office of Road Safety, but we need real financial commitments from both the government and opposition, including $3 billion a year towards a road safety fund.
"We want to see a dramatic reduction in the state's road toll and will continue to work with all levels of government, including the federal government and opposition, to cut road deaths and injuries."
