The Latrobe Valley was unable to celebrate in the statewide drop in road fatalities last year, with seven people dying on Latrobe City local government area roads in 2013.
The TAC figure – which consisted of three females and four males – was up considerably on Latrobe City’s 2012 total, in which only two people died.
The jump in fatalies came as the rest of the state experienced the most significant road toll reduction in a decade, and achieved the sixth consecutive record low road toll.
During 2013, 242 lives were lost on Victorian roads, compared to 282 in 2012 – a reduction of 40.
While the official 2013 road toll will be finalised on 1 February, the provisional results detailed a rise in the number of elderly road users killed and a 19.2 per cent reduction in the number of males killed statewide.
Metropolitan road deaths decreased by 23.1 per cent to 100, country road deaths decreased by a more marginal 6.6 per cent to 142.
Acting Premier Peter Ryan said the reduction in Victoria’s road toll had been record breaking in many ways; however there was still more work to be done.
“Victoria has just recorded its lowest road toll in almost 90 years. We haven’t seen a road toll this low since 1924, when 224 people were killed on the roads,” Mr Ryan said.
“This shows just how far we have come in saving lives, but we will not rest until the road toll is zero.”
