Road fatalities escalate

There has been a 600 per cent increase in fatal road crashes in the South West since this time last year, with half of those deaths involving people not wearing seatbelts.

Dardanup man Robert Phillip Bastow, 50, is the latest fatality on South West roads and the most recent death involving a person not wearing a seatbelt.

Officer in charge of South West traffic Sgt Gerard Murphy said Mr Bastow was the sixth person to die on South West roads this year, compared to only one death this time last year.

Mr Bastow was travelling north on Banksia Road and approaching a fourway intersection at Panizza Road about 6.45pm on Monday night.

He was turning left onto Panizza Road when his Mitsubishi Pajero wagon moved onto the gravel shoulder.

It appeared he lost control of the car and hit a tree.

Police said he was thrown from the cab of the wagon and died at the scene.

Sgt Murphy said it appeared the man was travelling faster than the road conditions allowed.

‘‘The message is obviously not getting out there,’’ Sgt Murphy said.

‘‘Sure, we are the enforcement arm of road safety but road safety comes down to everyone.’’

Sgt Murphy said about 30 per cent of road fatalities Statewide involved people not wearing seatbelts.

Figures so far this year have shown 50 per cent of the fatalities in the South West have involved people not wearing seatbelts.

‘‘Regional WA is the worst offender in not wearing seatbelts,’’ he said.

He said seatbelts have been mandatory for more than 40 years but police are still seeing fatalities attributed to not wearing seatbelts.

Sgt Murphy said drivers have become complacent.

‘‘Local roads are the most dangerous because drivers think they’re just going up the road and become complacent,’’ he said.