Road trauma support advocates are concerned about the proportion of regional drivers making up the state's road toll figures.
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This comes after a review of Victoria's road toll figures for 2021, which found 22 road fatalities in the Grampians region in 2021, one more than the same period in 2020.
In the Wimmera, Horsham and the Northern Grampians saw four road deaths each, the most for the region and an increase of one from 2020.
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Regional Victoria has recorded its second lowest number of road fatalities in a calendar year, despite the state's overall number of lives lost increasing by 11 per cent.
However, Road Trauma Support Services Grampians regional coordinator said the figures were still too high.
"One life is one too many. I think what we are seeing in the figures, with a sudden influx of more people on the road after the 2020-2021 lockdowns, I am wondering what effect that has had on people," she said.
Road Trauma Support Services is a non-for-profit organisation which provides counselling, support and road safety seminars across Australia.
As part of her role at the group, Ms Batchelor works with individuals referred from the Magistrates' Court of Victoria and self-referrals to run road trauma awareness seminars.
The focus is on choices, safety information and the impact of road trauma on communities in the Grampians region. Often individuals with repeat offences are referred to these seminars.
In 2021, 119 people were killed on roads in regional Victoria - down from 126 lives lost in 2020, and a further reduction on the 146 regional road deaths in 2019.
There was also an increase in single-vehicle fatal crashes, which accounted for 46 lives lost, compared with 33 last year.
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Ms Batchelor said single-vehicle incidents were especially common in the Grampians region.
"One of the facts we do know is that 61 per cent of drivers who lost their lives were from rural Victoria," she said.
"We make up a huge proportion in rural areas of lives lost. Particularly in the Grampians region which is a huge area. With rural road fatalities, there are a lot of single-vehicle incidents in the data.
"What we do know is that speed, fatigue, drugs, and alcohol play a large factor in road crashes. These are not an accident; they are a result of poor driving choices.
"A lot of it can be changed through behaviour, attitudes to driving and education - and a safer road system."
Ms Batchelor said the service looked at how driver choices increased risk on the roads.
Between 2016 and 2020, 54 per cent of people killed on Grampians region roads died within a 30km radius of their home.
"When we talk about these statistics, it is about choice more than anything. You choose to get behind the wheel fatigued. You choose to speed, you choose to drive under the influence of drugs or alcohol," she said.
"The other thing that astounds me is that there is still a lot of people who don't wear seatbelts, putting themselves at a huge risk of injury or death."
She said road deaths often had a far wider impact in rural settings like the Wimmera - with the service working with witnesses, family members and first responders.
"In rural areas you have strong communities, there are sports clubs, a lot of people that know people," she said.
"In rural areas, when the CFA, police or SES are going out to cut someone out of a car chances are they know them, they know the family. That can have a huge impact.
"We see that impact more in smaller communities."
Road Trauma Support Services operates a free and non-referral road trauma counselling. To enquire, call 1300 367 797.
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