The Victorian government has announced that schools, councils, and not-for-profit organisations can now apply for a funding boost for grassroots road safety initiatives to drive down road trauma.
The $1.5 million Community Road Safety Grants Program is set to include targeted programs that consider localised solutions to road safety concerns.
The application process is open for the 2022/23 grants.
Minister for Roads and Road Safety Ben Carroll said the program aims to empower local communities to tackle their road safety issues, especially in educating young people and reducing high-risk behaviours.
“Supporting grassroots road safety initiatives is vital as we work to address the issues driving road trauma – including fatigue and high-risk driver behaviour such as speeding and drink driving,” he said.
The program includes education sessions on road safety for cyclists, drivers, passengers, motorcyclists, pedestrians and promoting safer vehicles as well as funding roadside signage initiatives and improvements.
The initiative has already allowed 72 organisations to fund programs such as Safer Drivers and Passengers, Bike Education for children, Safe Routes to School and road safety for new arrivals. This resulted in more than 200 programs state-wide.
Head of Road Safety Victoria Carl Muller encouraged local communities to equip themselves with the knowledge and skills to improve safety on roads by embracing the programs.
“These grants will help deliver hundreds of programs and invaluable road safety messages in our smaller regional communities, Melbourne, and right across the state,” he said.
In late 2021, new 40km per hour speed limits were introduced on Burwood Highway, Belgrave between Reynolds Lane and Belgrave-Gembrook Rd and on Forest Rd in the Basin between Mountain Highway and Church Street.
The grants program supports the Labor Government’s Road Safety Strategy 2021-2030, which aims to halve road deaths and reduce serious injuries by 2030, and put us on the path to eliminating road deaths by 2050.
Applications close on Wednesday, 9 March 2022. For more information on the Community Road Safety Grants Program visit www.vicroads.vic.gov.au
