Darren Davis, President – Get Home Safe Foundation and The Hon. Ben Hood MLC, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Regional Roads and Government Accountability, Naracoorte News

For many decades our regional roads have been our most dangerous. Between 2017-2021 67 per cent of road users killed or seriously injured have been from our regional areas.

Historically, apart from occasional Government and SAPOL campaigns, rural communities have relied on volunteer Community Road Safety Groups to devise road safety initiatives for their areas.

These groups have typically been formed by families who lost loved ones.

Due to lack of support, lack of funds and lack of mentorship from road safety stakeholders, Volunteer Community Road Safety Group numbers have declined rapidly during the last decade with regions such as the South East losing all of its groups.

The Get Home Safe Foundation is aiming to create effective and fully self-governing alliances in our regions that could transform how our country roads are shaped in the future.

By encouraging all local councils, along with local federal and state MPs, road safety strategies will be designed by region, rather than by individual towns.

The creation of an alliance that encourages regional councils to work as one will help to pool resources and ideas sourced from the locals who use the roads. Local businesses as well as residents will be encouraged to work with the alliances as they are formed in regions across South Australia.

The first region to receive initial focus will be the state’s South East.

Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, and Regional Roads, Ben Hood MLC, is thrilled to support the launch of this initiative in the region of his birthplace and residence. On June 14th 2023 he stressed to Parliament that the devastating road toll in regional communities has to stop. “Enough is enough.”

Mr. Darren Davis, President of the Get Home Safe Foundation, launched the foundation in 2018 where he pledged to work tirelessly in the quest for safer regional roads. He also promised to encourage the spirit of collaboration in the road safety space in the hope that many minds working together will be more effective and will create safer roads.

The Regional Road Safety Alliance launched on Thursday November 21, 2024 at the Wulanda Recreation & Convention Centre, Mount Gambier. Mr Hood and Mr Davis co-chaired the meeting for councils in the morning, with an open public forum for residents, emergency services, businesses and stakeholders taking place in the afternoon.