Road deaths are far too high and need to be reduced at all costs. 

Despite police action, people still speed and break other road rules. 

Despite all the road safety education, multiple avoidable accidents still occur on a daily basis. 

Despite the record government funding being poured into road safety upgrades, the road death toll does not dissipate. 

So tough measures are needed to get the road death toll to zero.

Life-threatening head injuries can be avoided by requiring every driver and passenger in a car to wear a safety-rated helmet just like racing car drivers must wear. 

If there are any car accidents at all then speed limits should be universally reduced to 40 kilometres an hour with mass deployment of police to enforce that reduced limit. 

Defensive driving courses should be made available to everyone, on a voluntary basis of course.

But if you don’t undertake such a course then there may be roads you’re restricted from driving on, such as highways because, after all, you’ll pose a danger to other drivers. 

Anyone who opposes these strict measures must really just want people killed on our roads. 

If you haven’t guessed yet, I’m being sarcastic and don’t believe in a single proposal I’ve suggested above. 

A zero-risk approach to road deaths such as I’ve outlined may be noble, but it’s misguided because of the severe inconvenience it poses to society, the negative impact on the economy and the crimp on liberty. 

Yet when it comes to a virus it seems our political elite are willing to trade away the terrible impacts on society, the economy, and liberty to achieve zero deaths. 

Masks are mandated in certain areas. 

When there’s a case of Covid-19 in the community, cities are put in lockdown. 

While vaccines are voluntary, there is the ongoing coercive threat of domestic vaccine passports which will restrict the unvaccinated from participating in certain things that the vaccinated can engage in, like crossing a state border, going to a sporting event or getting a job. 

Road deaths in Australia exceed deaths from Covid-19. They would likely still exceed deaths from Covid-19 even if we didn’t have any restrictions. 

Yet hardly anyone would tolerate such onerous measures as safety helmet mandates, temporary universal 40 kilometre an hour speed limits and restrictions on drivers who hadn’t undertaken defensive driving courses. 

While all these measures would reduce deaths on our roads, possibly to near zero, they will never be accepted. 

And no one in political life would dare seriously suggest those opposed to any of those measures are crazy or actually want people to die on our roads. 

Meanwhile, we have to put up with mask mandates, lockdowns of cities after some cases of virus transmission, and perhaps restrictions on those who choose not to be vaccinated and our political and media elites say those who oppose such measures are crazy and must want people to die from Covid-19. Not true. 

They just oppose the ongoing government overreach and restriction on freedom, which is driving many of us up the wall.

George Christensen is the LNP Member for Dawson.