FATALITIES on Wheatbelt roads are six times the state average and eleven times the metropolitan average, according to RAC WA.
"This a very sad statistic for the Wheatbelt community. Tragic because of the unnecessary loss of lives and for those left behind," former police officer, police psychologist and criminologist Janet Devlin said.
Saddened, but not surprised, the senior psychologist and team leader of the Wheatbelt General Practice Network (WGPN) Social & Emotional Wheatbelt Service (SEWS) has spent years attending ‘too many’ road accidents and dealing with the aftermath.
"As a police psychologist and criminologist I researched the factors that contributed to motor vehicle accidents with a view to prevention while also counsel police and other emergency workers who attend the scene, including medical staff who treat the survivors," she said
"But there can be few things more difficult than informing someone that their loved one has been seriously injured or died.
"Counselling accident survivors and those who have lost a friend or family member I bear direct witness to the enormous, traumatic impact upon emergency service workers, families and communities."
Janet also points out that members of the Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander community are more highly disproportionately represented in road traffic accidents and are more likely to die or be seriously injured as a result.
Nationally, road trauma is the second leading cause of fatal injury and the fourth leading cause of serious injury among Aboriginal Australians
Another former police officer, WGPN Indigenous outreach officer, Angus McGlaughlin, said fatigue plays an enormous role in road crashes, responsible for an estimated 30 per cent of deaths and a larger percentage of serious injury crashes.
Other psychological factors that contribute to the road toll are fatigue, speed and alcohol or other drugs.
Importantly, 7 out of 10 fatalities involve only one vehicle and in 1 of 3 of these the driver was not wearing a seatbelt.
"It is an unpalatable notion but these factors combined indicate that at least some road fatalities are instances of self harm, either through the driver being recklessly indifferent to the consequences of their actions, such as not wearing a seatbelt, driving too fast or driving when intoxicated, or a more deliberate attempt to take their own life", Janet Devlin said.
However, the physical environment also plays a significant role and Toodyay Road, the Great Eastern Highway and the Great Southern Highway have been listed as top priorities in an effort to bring down the Wheatbelt’s road fatality rate.
"Two thirds of road fatalities in the Wheatbelt involve local residents," Janet said.
