Wodonga's Ron Finemore Transport campaigning for data to form future road policies

Wodonga-based Ron Finemore Transport has joined growing calls for federal and state governments to consider data before politics when making decisions on road funding.

Chairman Ron Finemore united with a range of transport and medical bodies in support of the Australian Automobile Association Data Saves Lives campaign, pushing for better use of road trauma data to determine safety policies aimed to reduce the annual road toll.

He said crash data such as age, gender, behaviour, the type of crash, vehicles involved, weather and road conditions, and whether the people involved were drivers, passengers, cyclists, pedestrians or motorcyclists, should be made public.

Mr Finemore said road figures, including International Road Assessment Program ratings and enforcement statistics, including information on the relative efficacy of random breath tests, roadside drug tests, and mobile telephone and speeding infringements, should also be factored in.

As of October 25, 2023, 236 lives had been lost on Victorian roads, while 297 deaths have been recorded in NSW in the same period.

"The roads are our workspace and we owe it to our 700-plus drivers and their families to seek more transparency and accountability," Mr Finemore said.

"In our business, the only way to improve performance is to transparently measure and analyse outcomes.

"The same principle should apply to governments, we must collectively examine the data governments hold about the causes of car crashes, the condition of our roads and the effectiveness of policing in saving lives."

State and territory governments manage data, but are not required to share it with federal decision makers.

Mr Finemore has urged the federal government to make it mandatory for states and territories to release data as a condition of receiving a share of the annual $10 billion a year road budget, by including it in the next five-year national partnership agreement on road funding, to be finalised in December.

"Despite billions of dollars being spent each year, more people are dying on our roads. We need to see the data to understand why," he said.

"Australians deserve transparency so they can see whether politicians are spending their taxes on the areas of greatest need, rather than courting support in marginal seats.''

Mr Finemore said the safety of drivers must be the primary concern of all governments.

"Public safety is too important to be put at risk by governments keeping data to themselves,'' he said.

"Data transparency and evidence-based policy are common sense. This reform will cost next to nothing, and it will save lives.

"Using this evidence in a transparent way to drive road safety policy will make our roads safer for all motorists, pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists and the men and women who make their living on our roads as drivers.

"If data is not made available to the Australian government, road infrastructure funding decisions will continue to be made in the backrooms of government and subject to the whims of politicians and the political cycle.''

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