FOOTBALL and netball clubs will turn their focus to road safety this weekend.
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Wimmera league teams Ararat and Nhill will compete for the RoadSafe Cup - a game which aims to shine a light on driver fatigue.
The two teams were highlighted due to the distance between their home grounds.
Acting Senior Sergeant Simon Grant, of the Wimmera Road Policing and Community Safety Management Unit, welcomed the initiative.
He said drivers didn't seem to be getting the message about fatigue.
"From a personal perspective, it's becoming white noise," he said.
"People are so used to police talking about how high the road toll is; how dangerous fatigue, speed, alcohol and drugs are. But rural people are over represented in the road toll.
"Of our (division's) fatal collisions in the past 12 months, 11 of the 12 fatal collisions, the people involved have been from rural or regional areas."
Acting Senior Sergeant Grant said it was reasonable to assume rural drivers would be well versed in the risks of driver fatigue - but the road toll told a different story.
"They're over represented," he said. "Country people die on country roads."
Ararat's senior vice-captain Corey Taylor said traveling long distances to get to sporting matches was common.
"Horsham is halfway, so when we go to Nhill a lot of people stop in Horsham for a break and to refresh and have a drink," he said.
"It's just about car pooling and having a stop halfway."
But Mr Taylor said there was a risk people regularly doing these trips could become complacent.
"They are so used to doing it," he said. "If you have programs like this, it brings road safety to the front of people's minds."
Nhill's football manager Brett Wheaton said the club purchased a bus to give people travel options, but it wasn't a perfect solution.
"We're encouraging members to use the bus for safety but not everyone can because there are multiple games," he said.
Swifts president Steve Hoffmann said he didn't think the Baggies' travel was excessive.
"I know other clubs travel up to three hours in other leagues," he said. "When we travel the longer distances ... the club organises a bus."
A driver reviver site at Green Lake, near Horsham, is also getting involved in the weekend's football Cup message. It will be open from 7am to 8pm Saturday.
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