Thank you to everyone who shared feedback on road safety as part of the Community Safety Survey held from May to June 2025. Your input helped us understand local safety concerns, travel behaviours, and priorities — and has shaped the development of the draft Safe Travel Strategy and Action Plan 2026-31.

Port Phillip’s previous Road User Safety Strategy was developed in 2013 and is now out of date. Since then, best-practice road safety planning has evolved significantly, and our city has also changed — becoming busier, denser, and more complex to navigate. Over the past decade, there have been 1,404 serious injury crashes and 15 fatalities on our road network, highlighting the need for a renewed approach.

The draft Strategy sets out a clear vision, actions, and priorities to improve road safety on Council-managed local roads, while also identifying where we need to work closely with the Victorian and Australian governments to advocate for safer outcomes on the broader road network.

We’re now seeking your feedback on the draft to make sure the Strategy and Action Plan reflect the needs of our community and key local priorities.

The Safe System Approach

The internationally recognised Safe System approach to road safety considers the network as a system of interactions between the road itself, people, vehicles and speeds.

The Safe System recognises that people will make mistakes and may have road crashes – but that crashes should not result in death or serious injury.

With that in mind, roads, speeds and vehicles should be designed to avoid crashes and to reduce the impact when they do.

The Safe System advocates for shared responsibility when it comes to safety on our roads – of those who design and manage the network, as well as those who use it.