Despite last Friday’s double fatality on Picton Road, the number of crashes have fallen by almost 25 per cent in recent years, according to Roads and Maritime Services.
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And heads-on have dropped by 80 per cent.
On Friday morning, two truck drivers died in a head-on collision on Picton Road, just north of the intersection of MacArthur Drive.
The driver of the B-Double was thrown from his truck.
The other truck involved was a car carrier and the driver died in the cabin when it caught alight after the collision.
In 2009, RMS started a $53 million program of safety improvements to the road, which finished in 2013.
An RMS spokesman said there were 167 crashes including nine fatalities in the five years before the safety work began.
In the three-year period between the end of the work in October 2013 and June 2016, the spokesman said there were 76 crashes resulting in five fatalities.
Creating year-on-year comparisons, that means there was an average 33.4 crashes annually in the five years prior and 25.3 yearly for the three years afterwards.
That’s a drop of 24 per cent.
Of the total number of accidents, 15 per cent (25 accidents) were head-ons before the upgrades.
Afterwards, it had fallen to 7 per cent (five accidents).
Comparing yearly averages, that’s a drop of five head-ons annually before the safety improvements to just over one afterwards.
A large part of the safety upgrade included installing median barriers or wire ropes along 40 per cent of the road.
The location of Friday’s accident did not have median barriers, though this may change in the future, the RMS spokesman said.
“Roads and Maritime is developing short and long-term plans to further improve the safety and efficiency of the entire route,” the spokesman said.
“This work will include consideration of additional median barriers.”