ROAD SAFETY

Mr GRIFFITHS (Goyder) (15:30): I rise today to talk about an issue concerning road safety, but it is an example of road safety efforts that have created a great deal of concern within my communities. Between 19 and 26 August, a program by the South Australia Police called Operation Rural Focus 2 was held in Kadina, Wallaroo, Moonta, Maitland and Port Wakefield communities. Regrettably, at that time, I was overseas, along with other members from both sides of this chamber. This issue resulted in an enormous number of telephone calls to my office from people who were very concerned about the implementation and the interpretation of the laws as they apply to driving a vehicle in South Australia and what they considered, in some cases, to be a very frivolous use of those laws by the police.

Any accident that occurs on our road, whether it results in injury or death, is a tragedy, there is no doubt about that, and one is one too many. Sadly, we have had far too many people die on South Australia's roads. I fully support the police and everything they do to ensure that people understand the laws, that they drive appropriately and that they run the least possible risk of causing an injury to themselves or to someone else.

When I returned home from China, every person whom I spoke with from all these communities was in to me about what the police had done. The police involved in this operation were not from the area, and I respect the fact that they were there to interpret the laws and to ensure that people knew exactly what they were doing, and to issue infringement notices when they were doing the wrong thing. I have stated publicly, certainly on regional ABC, that I do not support people who are speeding, driving without seatbelts or using a mobile phone while driving.

However, the areas of concern which have been expressed to me and which I have to relate to the house do worry me. One example given to me was of a car with mud over its numberplate and an expiation notice was issued. Another example was a ute with a shovel in the back and an infringement notice was issued. A further example was of a lump of wood in a trailer which was deemed not to be tied down and therefore sound, and an infringement notice was issued.

Interestingly, my office wrote two letters to the Minister for Police and we also contacted the Commissioner of Police, Mr Mal Hyde, and asked him for a briefing. I am very grateful for the fact that the police did that for me yesterday and we discussed it in a very mature way. They have corrected my thinking in relation to some areas, I must admit. They showed me a photo of the vehicle that had the infringement notice issued for having mud over the numberplate.

Sadly, they had had some problems with their indicator and they had put what looked like to be a lump of wood with trailer lights on the back of their car. The police had let them off for that offence, but they had still pinged them for the mud on the numberplate. In the eyes of the law it is correct, but the practicalities of living in a regional area mean that you often suffer from some shocking road conditions that make it impossible to have a clean numberplate. So, we have this very difficult balance.

The real concern to me is that, because of the actions of the police and because of stories perpetuating throughout the community where, suddenly, the infringement became worse and worse in its gravity, now there is a real lack of respect for our local police. That worries me enormously. Yorke Peninsula and the Adelaide Plains are generally very safe communities. They have very strong relationships with the police—

Mr Venning: Very law-abiding.

Mr GRIFFITHS: Very law-abiding. They have very strong relationships with the local police and want to assist them in any way possible. However, there is a real concern now that that has been damaged, especially when I hear that people were too afraid to drive on the roads at the time that these police officers were in town because they were worried about getting an infringement notice. That is as it was recounted to me.

I have received some survey forms highlighting the fact that people, especially our older community members, deliberately stayed away from the roads. In some cases I believe they missed medical appointments because they were concerned about driving on the roads and being stopped by a police officer, and being issued an infringement notice. It is in their mind, I can understand that, but the problem for all of us is that perception becomes reality. As I related to the senior police officer whom I spoke with yesterday, now they have this issue to deal with locally where it will be a hard fought battle by the local police to build that level of confidence again.

I do encourage road safety initiatives that actually come out and educate our people, and all of us want to see a reduction in crashes, but you have to go about it in such a way that you bring the community along with you. There was a great fear that the way in which it was conducted, on some occasions—now I understand it a bit better—has really damaged that relationship between the community and the police which will be very difficult to overcome. I would urge the police to do all they can to improve it as soon as possible.