A series of "spotlight on road safety" forums across regional Victoria will not include the North East, despite the region having high levels of traffic travelling between Melbourne and Sydney along the Hume Freeway.
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Road Safety and TAC Minister Jaala Pulford described the state's road toll as "shocking", having increased 55 per cent from last year - up to 155 in 2019 so far.
Just two of those 2019 deaths have been in the North East, both in Towong Shire.
TAC data shows that in the second half of 2018, there were also three deaths in Indigo and Alpine, two in Benalla, one in Wangaratta and zero in Wodonga.
Over the past 12 months, there have been seven fatalities in Shepparton.
The Victorian government chose Shepparton as the closest location to the North East for one of its community forums, to be held on July 16, but it will still be an almost two-hour trip for anyone who wants to attend from Wodonga.
Ballarat has also experienced zero fatalities in 2019, but will host one of the forums.
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The forums will be attended by road safety experts, local government and community leaders and look into how to prevent fatalities in regional areas, which are disproportionately higher than those in Melbourne.
"Close-knit regional communities are often the hardest hit by the devastating and long-lasting impacts of road trauma," Ms Pulford said.
"Similarly, they are incredibly effective at rallying for a common cause."
The North East road toll has almost halved since 17 people died during the 2016-17 financial year, before wire rope barriers started to be installed on the Hume Freeway.
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