Last year, so many of our community members had their lives changed forever because of the 42 serious road accidents in our region.

Some of those accidents led to serious life-altering injuries, and some of them were sadly fatal.

As a close-knit community, the trauma of a road accident is felt by so many, and for so long.

Accidents like these are felt by our family and friends, our colleagues, the many community groups we're a part of, and our emergency responders. And it changes all of our lives. But the things that needs to change are our behaviours.

As a community, we can all work together to make sure we're doing all that we can to protect every life.

This starts with your own, but it also includes the lives of your passengers, other drivers, your friends and family, and our wildlife.

This means keeping to the speed limit, following traffic signs, being courteous and safe. It also means slowing down in known wildlife habitat, and not using your mobile phone, and taking rests.

To remind you to be mindful of the dangers, we're dressing up some of the Hello Koalas with a yellow ribbon.

When you see a road safety koala, I ask you to think about which behaviours you can change to make sure you are acting in a way that protects every life on our roads.

I hope you all have a wonderful National Road Safety Week, and take the pledge to drive to survive, not only this week, but for the other 51 weeks of the year too.

You can take the road safety pledge online by visiting roadsafetyweek.com.au.