"Despite all the measures that have been taken to address the road toll, in the thirtieth week of this year, 31 people have died on our roads in the far northern region, three more than the total for 2008. If this horrifying trend continues, we are looking at nearly double the fatalities over last year" said Mr. Wettenhall.

Mr. Wettenhall said that after he heard the news of the latest fatal accident at Babinda, he immediately telephoned the Minister for Transport Rachel Nolan, the Minister for Police and Emergency Services Neil Roberts and the Minister for Main Roads Craig Wallace to invite them to take part in a regional summit. "Each of the Ministers shares my deep concern about the rising road toll and each of the relevant ministers agreed without hesitation to attend" said Mr. Wettenhall.

Although the timing and exact details of the summit program are yet to be finalised, Mr. Wettenhall said that he hoped the summit might generate fresh ideas about how best to communicate road safety messages that are effective in the far north region"

"Comparing what we know about the road crashes in our region with what is happening in other parts of the state might also point to particular regional issues or characteristics that could inform the development of new or revised road safety measures" said Mr. Wettenhall.

"We know that alcohol, speed and human error are the main contributing factors in serious road crashes but the question that needs to be answered is why are our messages about road safety not ‘cutting through' in the far north"? said Mr. Wettenhall.

Mr. Wettenhall said that he would invite local members of parliament, officials from all relevant state agencies such as the Police, Ambulance and Fire and Rescue Service, to come to the summit and that he would also seek input from experts in media and communications as well. "The media has a critical role in road safety campaigns and I would also like to provide an opportunity for interested members of the public to listen to the presentation from the experts and have their say".

"If one outcome of the summit is that we as a community gain a better understanding of the causes of these tragedies, then it will have been a worthwhile exercise" said Mr. Wettenhall "but I hope we can go further than that and identify some concrete actions to reverse the trend of this years terrible statistics".