PETER FRAZER
SARAH GROUP PRESIDENT
On 15 February 2012, Peter’s daughter Sarah was killed in a completely avoidable road crash on the Hume Freeway south of Sydney. As a consequence of this tragedy, he and his family decided that they would contribute to improving road safety outcomes through their policy development, community education as well as their advocacy work.
Peter Frazer OAM, President of SARAH Group, has over 40 years’ experience in economic analysis, research, law enforcement & compliance policy, investigations, strategic & operational intelligence, and project management as well as social justice advocacy.
On 15 February 2012, Peter’s daughter Sarah was killed by a truck driver in a completely avoidable crash on the Hume Freeway in New South Wales. Since then, he has dedicated his life to improving road safety in Australia and overseas. In March 2012, Peter founded SARAH (Safer Australian Roads and Highways), colloquially known as SarahGroup. Since then, he has used his more than 40 years’ experience in social justice, policy, research, law enforcement and intelligence, to not only positively influence government, corporate and community road safety advocacy, but legislative and infrastructure reform. He created and remains the driving force behind Australia’s National Road Safety Week, as well as the nation’s road safety symbol, the “Yellow Ribbon”.
Background to SarahGroup
In March 2012, Peter established the name Safer Australian Roads and Highways (SARAH), also known by its website name “SarahGroup”, Peter and his family held the inaugural Yellow Ribbon Road Safety Week from 12 to 19 May 2012. At that time it just focussed on NSW however, in May the following year, Queensland Motorways (now part of Transurban) offered to light the Gateway Bridges in yellow over the Brisbane River for the event, and as it moved across the border from NSW to Queensland, SARAH Group declared it “National Road Safety Week”.
Having created this important annual initiative, SARAH Group is proud that the Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments are now partners, along with businesses, union, education sectors, Councils, road safety organisations and individuals across Australia.
Peter’s road safety leadership has been widely recognised.
Peter is a Board Member of the International Road Victims Partnership, a member of the Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety and previously a Member of the Advisory Board for FEVR’s World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims. While he has been in demand to speak at conferences since 2012, his keynote speakership was initiated at the Roads Australia/IRF Sydney Conference on 6 May 2015. Since then, he has presented and keynoted numerous national and international events/conferences, including those sponsored by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Recently, (November 2021), along with Hon Abdulla Shahid, President of the United Nations General Assembly and Ms Zoleka Mandela, Peter spoke at the globally broadcast UN World Day of Remembrance for Road Victims (WHO Geneva Switzerland), while on 28 November 2022, he was the Keynote Speaker for the 14th World Conference on
Injury Prevention & Safety Promotion, jointly sponsored by WHO and the Public Health Association of Australia. In September 2022, he completed the Vision Zero International Course run by Trafikverket, Gothenburg, Sweden.
At a personal level, Peter has received numerous honours including: NewsCorp’s 2012 Pride of Australia Medal (Finalist - Courage Award), 2013 Blue Mountains Citizen of the Year, 2014 Community Service Achievement Award (Western Sydney University), 2018 Global Light of Hope (Irish Road Victims Association), 2019 Australian Volunteer of the Year (Third Sector) and 2019 Australian of the Year (Finalist - NSW Local Hero). In 2020, he became a Churchill Fellow and the following year, he received the Region’s highest road safety honour becoming the 2021 Fellow of the Australasian College of Road Safety. On Australia Day 2022, Peter was awarded the Order of Australia Medal for his “service in the advancement of road safety, both nationally and internationally.”
In addition to the above, Peter is also a volunteer Bush Fire Fighter with the NSW Rural Fire Service, and in late 2022, he received a NSW Premier’s Bushfire Emergency Citation for the 2019-20 NSW Bushfire Emergency. Also in 2020, Peter was NSW DPC’s Australia Day Ambassador for Hawkesbury Council, while in 2023, he was the Australia Day Ambassador for Lithgow City Council.
Quick References
2023 Governor-General NRSW Statement: https://tinyurl.com/ruyycy2r
Speech - WHO 2021 UN World Day of Remembrance Road Victims https://tinyurl.com/ytmf62pm (starts @ 9 m 42 sec)
Keynote - 14th World Conference on Injury Prevention & Safety Promotion https://vimeo.com/779098865
Safer Australian Roads and Highways: https://www.sarahgroup.org/
National Road Safety Week (NRSW): https://roadsafetyweek.com.au/
