SOUTH EASTERN FREEWAY

Ms FOX (Bright) (15:23): My question is to the Minister for Road Safety. Can the minister advise the house of any recent road safety initiatives for the South Eastern Freeway?

The Hon. T.R. KENYON (Newland—Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing, Minister for Road Safety, Minister for Veterans' Affairs, Minister Assisting the Premier with South Australia's Strategic Plan) (15:23): Each day approximately 43,000 vehicles, including 3,500 heavy vehicles, use the South Eastern Freeway. Approximately 900 of these heavy vehicles travel with five axles or more. Over the last 10 years, there have been 135 crashes involving heavy vehicles between the Crafers interchange and Glen Osmond Road at the intersection of Conyngham Street, Glenunga. Nine of these crashes have been attributed to brake failure or vehicle fault.

To provide improved road safety for all road users, a 60 km/h limit has been established for trucks with five axles or more for the full length of the descent into Adelaide. The new speed limit starts near the summit at Crafers, where trucks are also required to use the left lane exclusively. New road signs to alert truck drivers of their responsibilities were unveiled earlier this month. Signage has also been upgraded to better highlight distances to available arrester beds.

Just last week, I rang the young driver of a heavy vehicle who had pulled into one of the arrester beds to avoid a potential accident. She was having some difficulty maintaining the new 60 km/h heavy vehicle speed limit coming down the freeway so she chose to use an arrester bed to avoid a potentially dangerous situation. Her swift action shows that arrester beds on the descent have an important role to play on the South Eastern Freeway as part of our road safety strategy. She did exactly the right thing by using the arrester bed to avoid the possibility of a serious accident. It is somewhat surprising to me that it has taken a young driver, a young woman in fact, in the first years of her driver's licence for heavy vehicles to show the men how to drive down the freeway when things go wrong. That is why the beds are in place on the descent. They are there to prevent serious accidents and to save lives. I have heard it suggested that some people have been reluctant to use the arrester beds because this may make others think they are not good drivers. This is complete nonsense. The arrester beds are there; they should be used.

I am pleased to be able to tell the house that these safety improvements have been met with the support of the South Australian Road Transport Association, who are supportive of the common-sense approach which recognises the needs of the heavy vehicle industry without unnecessarily complicating the conditions on the freeway. These measures also have the support of the South Australian police, who will now work with the Department for Transport, Energy and Infrastructure on effective enforcement strategies and also with the South Australian Road Transport Authority on the implementation of these measures.

The overall number of serious crashes in South Australia involving heavy vehicles has decreased from 95 to 76 in the last five years. I believe that these initiatives on the South Eastern Freeway will contribute to reducing the incidence of accidents in South Australia even further.