The State Opposition has called for urgent action to address the shocking road toll which has seen more than one West Australian killed on the roads every two days in 2024.
The Cook Government has called an emergency road safety summit for the middle of next month amid WA’s climbing horror toll.
However, Liberal leader Libby Mettam said West Australians could not afford to wait that long.
There have been 117 deaths on WA roads so far this year — the highest in almost a decade.
“This government consults, meets, plans, or holds a summit every time something goes wrong,” Ms Mettam said.
“They held a summit for Unit 18, before promptly ignoring all the expert advice and look at the issues that still exist there.
“We can’t afford Roger Cook’s Road Safety Summit to be a month away, especially if nothing is going to change again.
“The warning signs from the road safety camera trial and auditor general have been there for two years, and the Cook Labor Government has ignored them.
“If Roger Cook spent as much time worrying about road safety as he does about glitzy events, we wouldn’t be in this position.”
Asked on Sunday the reason for the delay, Mr Cook said: “we obviously have to invite a range of people, peak bodies, all in the Road Safety space and make sure we can do it at a time when everyone’s available”.
“This is having a devastating impact on the families of those who lose their lives on the roads. It’s having a devastating impact on our first responders.
“It’s a desperately sad situation, and I want to do everything we can as a government to make sure that we drive down the incidence of fatalities on our roads.”
Mr Cook announced the summit last Thursday, in the wake of a horror car rollover in the Mid West, which killed Marrika Brockman, 33, her five-week-old son, Levi, and her niece Gabrielle Brockman, 21.
“We continue to run road safety campaigns. We continue to do significant upgrades in terms of road safety, like on matters like audible edging overtaking lanes and so on, but we’re still continuing to see a stubborn rise in the number of fatalities on our roads,” Mr Cook said.
“I want to get everyone around the table talking about this issue, seeing what else that we can do.”
The political stoush came as a South Hedland man was charged on Sunday with manslaughter over the death of a three-year-old girl who was killed in a horror car rollover in the State’s north last week.
The toddler was one of six people in a Holden Captiva travelling along a dirt road in De Grey near Great Northern Highway late on Wednesday night, when the vehicle left the road and rolled.
The girl suffered critical injuries and died at the scene.
The 24-year-old driver is due to face court next month charged with manslaughter and two counts of dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm and bodily harm.
If you or anyone you know has been affected by a road crash, contact Road Trauma Support WA on 1300 004 814.