Rural Road Safety Program

The Hon. T.R. KENYON (Newland) (14:36): My question is to the Minister for Road Safety. Will the minister inform the house about how the infrastructure investments in the state government's 2015-16 Rural Road Safety Program will assist in reducing road trauma on South Australia's rural roads?

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light—Minister for Disabilities, Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (14:36): I thank the honourable member for his question and, if my memory serves me correctly, he was previous minister for road safety, so I thank him for his interest in this matter. Every road crash fatality is a tragedy and many serious injuries also permanently incapacitate road crash victims. No death or injury on our roads is acceptable and we must address the trauma that is caused by everyday use of the roads, regardless of the circumstances or the people involved.

In 2014, 65 per cent of fatal crashes in South Australia occurred on rural roads which compares to 61 per cent as the previous five-year average between 2009 and 2013. Part of the task in reducing the over-representation of road crash fatalities on South Australia's rural and regional roads involves making targeted investment in road infrastructure treatments.

Road crash statistics show that the most common type of fatal and serious injury crashes in rural South Australia are what we call 'hit fixed object' crashes. These types of crashes commonly involve a single vehicle leaving the road surface and hitting a tree or Stobie pole or other item. The Rural Road Safety Program is designed to assist in reducing these types of crashes on high-speed rural arterial roads.

Projects have been selected from across rural South Australia, including in the South-East, Fleurieu Peninsula, Adelaide Hills, Mid North and Yorke Peninsula regions. The program will invest $8.8 million in 2015-16 on projects which include:

the installation of guard rails and crash barriers designed to shield errant vehicles from fixed objects. An investment of $450,000 will be made on Redbanks Road in the District Council of Mallala;

a $1.5 million investment on the Yorke Highway will include the removal of hazardous trees while other sites will receive vegetation and tree removal where it poses a significant safety hazard;

shoulder sealing works such as the $149,500 project on the Riddoch Highway in the South-East; and

upgrades on high-risk rural intersections such as the installation of a roundabout at the intersection of Onkaparinga Valley and Woodside Roads.

The government's $8.8 million investment in the Rural Road Safety Program is part of the approximately $136 million the government is investing in rural roads in 2015-16, designed to improve the quality of rural roads and assist in reducing the disproportionate rate of road trauma in rural and regional South Australia.