THE myth that people unaware of rural conditions being the most likely to die on our roads has been smashed by the latest Transport Accident Commission (TAC) figures released this week.
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Statistics from 2019 show the vast majority of the 146 deaths on regional Victorian roads were people driving in their local area.
Across the state, 73 per cent of deaths on rural roads were locals, although that number is slightly less in the Grampians region, coming in at 59 per cent.
The local area is related to the region surrounding the the victim's postcode. So for example, a person killed on local roads in the western area of the state is more than likely to have come from the Grampians region, which takes in areas which also includes areas including Ararat and Horsham and Moorabool.
In this region, 59 per cent of the 32 road deaths last year were locals, while 41 per cent were people who lived in other parts of the state or outside of Victoria.
Run-off-road and head-on crashes resulted in 94 fatalities across the state while 101 people were killed in high-speed zones which are roads of 100km/h or more.
Run-off-road and head-on crashes resulting in 20 fatalities in the Grampians region, while 26 people were killed in high-speed zones.
Acting Roads and TAC minister Jacinta Allan said the figures bucked a long held myth.
"Every death on our roads is an unacceptable and preventable tragedy and regional Victorians remain over represented in lives lost," Ms Allan said
The State Government has promised more than 340km of safety barriers will be rolled out this year in addition to the 2300km already installed on high-risk roads in a bid to curb head-on crashes
TAC chief executive Joe Calafiore said there was too much complacency on local roads. "We need regional Victorians to make safe choices, no matter how familiar they are with their surroundings," he said.