Shellharbour ute drivers urged to 'Be a hero, aim for zero' in new campaign

“Tradie” boss Tony Fraser is encouraging ute and light-truck drivers to “Be a hero and aim for zero” as part of Shellharbour City Council’s new Travel Safe Tradies campaign.

Tony, the council’s executive manager works and services overseeing tradespeople out of the Oak Flats Council Depot, said safety was paramount in his role.

A key part of that was road safety, with Transport for NSW data revealing 193 light-truck and ute crashes in Shellharbour between 2017 and 2021, a 28 per cent increase and 42 more crashes compared with the previous five-year period.

In NSW, almost 30 per cent of workplace fatalities are a result of road crashes, and around one in four deaths on NSW roads is a person driving for work.

“Council, through its operational workforce, has about 90 utes on the road,” Tony said.

“It’s (the statistics) certainly a concern, and anything that council can do to support such initiatives is a positive. We want to aim for zero to bring the road toll down towards zero.

“Council has adopted safe driving policies, so these types of programs and awareness support that and support the health and wellbeing of our staff.”

Using the tagline ‘’Be a hero. Aim for zero’’, the campaign is designed to boost road safety awareness and encourage safer driving habits among all Shellharbour ute drivers to help reduce the road toll.

Tony said creating awareness around the statistics was an important part of that.

“It’s a reminder for people to take care when they’re out on the roads, secure their loads, drive safely and drive to conditions,” he said.

“I think any time awareness is created around this issue, people can check their own behaviours and make adjustments if needed.

“The majority of the incidents council faces have been about being aware of surroundings, so reversing-type accidents and bumping into static objects in the course of our duties and working in areas where there is restricted access.

“That’s been our focus over time, just making sure people are aware of their surroundings and their loads are secured and trailers are hooked on appropriately.”

Travel Safe Tradies will be a multi-stage campaign targeting ute drivers commuting to and from work and to different job sites throughout the day.

In this first stage, ute drivers are being encouraged to fill out a short survey and help the council learn more about them, including their age, trade and the type of ute to provide more targeted safety information to those who need it most.

Shellharbour City Mayor Chris Homer highlighted the significance of the road safety campaign.

“Utes represent 32 per cent of all crashes in Shellharbour, so this campaign will be an incredibly important tool in raising awareness and reducing the number of crashes on Shellharbour roads,” Cr Homer said.

“By delivering personalised safety messaging to ute drivers across Shellharbour, we’re aiming to improve the safety of not just the people driving the utes, but also for everyone else on our roads and footpaths as well.”

Each person who completes the survey will go in the draw to win a pizza lunch for their work team and the first 50 entrants will also receive a Travel Safe Tradies prize pack.

Travel Safe Tradies is an initiative of the Local Government Road Safety Program, funded by Transport for NSW.

For more information and to view the survey, visit Shellharbour Council’s Let’s Chat.