BELT UP ROUND – 20/21 May 2017

The Belt Up Round has a special significance for the 12,500 country football players that participate in country football around the state.  Players will take a minute to not only remember the importance of safety on country roads, but also those who have either been injured or lost their lives on country roads.

All league footballs and player uniforms will carry the Belt up logo for this round.

WACFL General Manager Joe Georgiades was hopeful this weekend’s fixtures would help make a change to driving behaviour on country roads. “The Insurance Commission of Western Australia (ICWA) is our largest supporter which reflects football’s wide-reaching ability to help reduce the number and severity of personal injuries from crashes on country roads.  Every year we hear of players who are injured or lose their lives on country roads and the devastation this causes to people, the community and our clubs is significant.”

ICWA Commission Secretary Kane Blackman said that the Belt up round was an excellent opportunity to promote public awareness about the prevention of motor vehicle crashes to reduce the number and severity of road crashes.

“Unfortunately, our claims statistics from crashes are overrepresented by young men in regional areas. This is consistent with the trend that people in regional areas have more crashes involving personal injuries proportionally than people in metropolitan areas,” he said.

“The financial impact of crashes is also significant, as ICWA spent almost $500 million on personal injury claims from crashes in WA last year. If people have to talk to ICWA they have generally been hurt in an accident. We’d much rather see those people playing sport.”

Last year the Insurance Commission of Western Australia government expanded the motor injury insurance. Previously you were not covered if you were catastrophically injured in a crash and couldn’t identify another driver was at fault. This meant, for example, if your vehicle hit a kangaroo and you were catastrophically injured, you were not covered. It also meant that single -vehicle accidents were not covered.

As of 1 July 2016, our motor injury insurance expanded in Western Australia and registrations increased to ensure we are all covered if we are catastrophically injured in a crash. A crash can happen to anyone on the road. This is a life changing initiative and the WA Country Football League are strongly behind making sure people injured in crashes are provided care. Further information regarding the expansion of the cover please check out www.nowcovered.com.au