The Centre for Road Safety, charged with "changing cultural values on road safety", will lose more than a quarter of its staff

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/road-safety-unit-to-be-slashed-in-ofarrell-government-budget-cuts/story-e6freuy9-1226420536198?from=public_rss

THE peak road safety unit that helped save thousands of lives on NSW roads will be gutted by the O'Farrell government's savage job and budget cuts.

The Centre for Road Safety, charged with "changing cultural values on road safety", will lose more than a quarter of its staff and millions of dollars in funding under the budget blitz, unions have been told.

Just 18 positions have been filled so far in a restructured unit which previously employed 87 including experts in road safety engineering.

Government officials briefed the Public Service Association on the cuts, which are feared will hit much of the centre's specialised work including road safety education programs for school children.

Funding for one of the centre's key programs, the Road Toll Response Team Package, which targets safety improvements such as barriers on dangerous roads and pedestrian fencing, will be cut by more than $2 million.

Treasury documents obtained by the state opposition reveal a total of 378 jobs will be shed across all areas of Roads and Maritime Services over the next financial year.

The first mission of the Road Safety Centre when it was created by the former Labor government in 2007 was to convince drivers that speeding was socially unacceptable.

This year centre experts worked with The Daily Telegraph in its Check, See, Turn the Key campaign to reduce child injuries in driveways.

PSA assistant secretary Steve Turner said the government had denied frontline services would be affected by the 1.2 per cent cut in staffing across agencies.

"But what could be more frontline than road safety?" Mr Turner said.

An insider said: "We want the public to see that while the government is talking about increased road safety it is cutting the very services that provide that.

They said money from the new speed camera strategy would be put into road safety but the people losing their jobs are the ones who drive these initiatives."

A NSW Transport spokeswoman yesterday confirmed the scaledown of staff but said there would be no funding cut.

"The new structure has been developed to improve the way the Centre delivers initiatives, engages with stakeholders and produces road safety information," she said.

Opposition Leader John Robertson said: "Barry O'Farrell needs to explain why in this budget he is gouging an extra $180 million from motorists through speeding fines and at the same time cutting the very programs that save lives on our roads."

"The people of NSW were promised better by this government - but instead they've been hit with more speed cameras, higher fines and cuts to road safety programs. It's just not good enough."