POLICE chiefs said "G'day" to tough new road safety ideas from Down Under in a high-profile seminar held in Lancashire.

Top cops from the Australian state of Victoria descended on the county's police headquarters in Hutton to push their hard-hitting campaign to cut road deaths.

More than 130 delegates from all over Britain gathered to hear how better technology, tougher laws and a change in drivers' attitudes have sparked dramatic changes in Victoria - which is twice the size of the UK and has a population of four and a half million.

Victoria's top police personnel, including Geoff Cliffe, Chief Superintendent John Bodinnar and Denis Hall, from the Department of Justice, told the seminar the strategy, which to date has saved 2,000 lives, prevented 66,000 injuries and saved the tax payer $2 billion, was achieved eight years before their year 2000 target.

They believe its success was due to partnerships between the police, the public, the government and the private sector.

A powerful and disturbing advertising campaign, produced by the Transport Accident Commission and based on real-life incidents, also contributed to a change in driver behaviour.

Following the presentation Lancashire's Chief Constable, Pauline Clare, said: "It was very informative and thought-provoking.

"We have been shown a way ahead and we have to take positive action to reduce the carnage on our roads and raise the profile of road safety issues within the country.

"The Association of Chief Police Officers - which has recently developed a road safety strategy - and colleagues in Scotland will put pressure on the government to make road safety a national policing objective.

"One of the messages that came out clearly and strongly from the seminar was that road safety is not something you do to a community, it is something you do with a community."

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