Motions

World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims

Ms WORTLEY (Torrens) (11:30): I move:

That this house—

(a) recognises that 15 November 2015 is World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims;

(b) remembers those who have tragically lost their lives on South Australian roads; and

(c) calls on everyone to work together towards zero fatalities on our state's roads.

I would like to recognise that Sunday 15 November is the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims. The world day of remembrance, supported by the World Health Organisation and the United Nations Road Safety Collaboration, gives road users a chance to reflect on the trauma caused by road crashes and the impact on the victims and their families. Worldwide, over 1.2 million people are killed and a further 20 to 50 million injured each year. Over 3,400 men, women and children are killed every day on the world's roads while walking, cycling or driving. They will never return home. Road crashes affect people across all corners of the world, across Australia and across South Australia. About 100 people are killed in crashes on South Australian roads each year. Another 700 people are seriously injured.

Mr PENGILLY: Point of order.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Your point of order is that the noise level is too high, member for Finniss. I have asked the people in the gallery to clear the gallery. You are more than welcome to continue your discussions outside but we just need to continue with business. Thank you for your cooperation. Member for Reynell, we have asked you to cooperate with the chair. Please take your conversations outside or resume your seat. I apologise, member for Torrens. Please continue.

Ms WORTLEY: The trauma for families affected by these tragedies is immeasurable. I know what it is like to lose a loved one to a road accident. I can vividly recall the day my little sister was hit by a car and the year she was in a coma before dying at the age of 11 from her injuries. I know the impact it had on our family. It is generational. South Australia's Road Safety Strategy 2020, Towards Zero Together is motivated by the belief that no person should die on our roads. This strategy sets the direction for reducing serious casualties during the decade by at least 30 per cent to less than 80 fatalities and less than 800 serious injuries per year by 2020. This is the minimum improvement, and we will strive to do better.

Since the early 1970s, when nearly 400 people were killed and 4,000 people were seriously injured on South Australian roads each year, there has been a substantial decline in the number of casualties. This has been achieved despite an increase in the number of people and vehicles on our roads. South Australia has also made significant improvements between 2002-2012, reducing the road toll by one third from 154 deaths and 1,538 serious injuries in 2002 down to a record low of 94 fatalities and 761 serious injuries in 2012. While the last two years have recorded a slight increase in road fatalities, the number of serious injuries has continued to fall, registering in 2014 the lowest serious injury total on record.

The World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims provides an opportunity to remember those involved in crashes and is also an opportunity to reflect on the importance of road safety. The government is committed to road safety. There is a lot we are doing and a lot more that can be done. All levels of government are responsible for delivering safe transport infrastructure, and it is the responsibility of individuals to treat our roads and others with the respect they deserve. The responsibility is a shared one.

We all have a responsibility to other road users to be safe, not sorry. We have a responsibility to our families and friends to make it home safely and to ensure all other road users are safe around us. I urge everyone to take the time to think about the importance of acting responsibly—drivers, passengers, motorcyclists, cyclists and pedestrians. On Sunday 15 November I will be remembering the victims of road safety accidents and I wish everybody safety on our roads.

Mr WINGARD (Mitchell) (11:35): I rise too in support of this motion that recognises that 15 November 2015 is World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, remembers those who have tragically lost their lives on South Australian roads, and calls on everyone to work together towards zero fatalities on our state roads.

Thirty years ago my best friend's sister passed away in a car accident; she was a beautiful person by the name of Sally Barton. It is a great time to remember those people who have died on our roads and how tragic it is and the impact that it has on our community. Sally died not far from where I currently live and I go past the point quite regularly and think of her all the time. I remember the fallout and the devastation in the local community. We all went to Brighton High School together and many young people were left shattered by this incident. I was a young person in my early teens and, as I said, the impact on me has been very great for that 30 years. It is with me every time I get in my car and drive, and people have to be aware that they need to be safe on our roads.

I know that lots of people have a very similar story and it is with that story that I very much support the Road Trauma Support Team of South Australia and the World Remembrance Day for Road Traffic Victims, as was pointed out by the member for Torrens, on 15 November 2015—and I, too, will be there in support of all people who have lost someone in a road traffic accident.

I and a lot of my friends grew up in the country and, sadly, we have far too many incidents, accidents and deaths on our country roads, and a lot of rural members in our party would most likely know someone in their lifetime who has been killed on our roads. In fact, I would suggest that almost every person in the house would know someone who has been killed on our roads, which is not a good thing.

We very much support reducing the road toll with Towards Zero Together. If we have a look back at the road toll, as was also mentioned by the member for Torrens, unfortunately in the past few years in South Australia, it has started to rise. If we look back over the history from 2010, we had 97 deaths on the road; in 2011, 88 deaths; in 2012, it was down to 74; in 2013, though, it kicked back up to 82; and in 2014, it was at 80. The average over the 2010 to 2014 period was 84 deaths on our state roads. At the moment in South Australia we are sitting at 88; in fact, there have been 18 deaths in the month of October and the month is not yet finished, although it is nearing an end. That number is way too high. Last year, there were just nine in October. Those figures, I think, are quite chilling. We must be very much aware of this and do all we can to reduce our road toll.

No doubt it is about attitude and I very much support people be friendlier and more patient on the roads, sharing the roads and being supportive of one another. Personally, I have a thing that I do when I am driving on the road in the city and the country—in fact, it probably comes from living in the country when I was growing up. My dad was a stock agent travelling the rural roads and he had a wonderful thing where he would always raise his finger to acknowledge a passing car. My parents split up so I spent a lot more time in the city and, when I would go to see Dad and see him do this, I would ask, 'Did you know that person?' He said, 'No, just waving to say hello.' It was courtesy on the roads and, again, it comes very much from my country upbringing. I find now that when I drive in the city, people are always in a hurry, which I understand, but if we all work together I think we can all get places a whole lot better.

I notice when I drive in the city and someone needs to get across into the lane to maybe get across to turn right, or move into a different lane, they put on their indicator and they move into that lane. I think it is always courteous to let the person in, give them a wave and help them out in the hope that when you need to change lanes someone then lets you in, making it all flow a lot easier.

I do not like it when you see people close the gap between their car and the next and not let people in. I think that frustration really does not help and creates a poor attitude on the roads. Across South Australia, we perhaps do not have the best reputation for sharing the roads like that when cars want to merge, and I think it is something that, as a state and as people, we should really look at and work on.

Another issue that is very pertinent and I think should be mentioned at this point is the road maintenance backlog. We know the CCF put South Australia's road maintenance backlog at $1 billion. I talked previously about driving on country roads and I have done a lot of driving in my responsibilities as shadow transport minister and also the shadow minister for road safety. I have been up in the Mallee on the Mallee Highway seeing the member for Chaffey, visiting him and having a good tour around that region, and I had a good look at the roads there.

I do want to comment on the condition of a particular highway—and there were some areas admittedly where some verge work was being done, which I commend the government for, but I think a lot more could be done by slightly widening the road and giving a better lip surface to the road, which makes the roads a heck of a lot safer. That is something that I think the government should continue to work on. I noticed on my trip to the West Coast when driving to Port Lincoln, once I got to Port Augusta and I called in and saw the member for Stuart, that there were no overtaking lanes from Port Augusta to Whyalla, and then from Whyalla to Port Lincoln. You could tell that that was causing a lot of frustration for drivers on the road when there were trucks and whatnot. I am a big supporter of overtaking lanes and I think that funds and money spent in increasing our overtaking lanes is very important.

I am also happy to listen to the experts; I think that is important. We should listen to the experts to see what we can do to make our roads as safe as possible. It is human behaviour, but it is also the roads that we travel on, and if we let our roads deteriorate to a point where they are not safe then that can also add to the problem and that is something that we must be very aware of.

The member for Torrens pointed out that the road traffic fatalities over the years have reduced and that is great. A lot of great work has been done on people's awareness of drink-driving, zero tolerance to drink-driving, and the police work and technology has advanced in being able to detect people who are drink and drug driving. I commend SAPOL for the work that they do in that area, and the good campaigns that have been run about drink-driving have really helped to bring those numbers down.

Seatbelts is the other one, when you look back over time. I had a very good meeting with the department and they took me through the history. I cannot stress the importance of wearing seatbelts enough, and to hear of people in this day and age driving their cars and not wearing a seatbelt is immensely frustrating. We know that it was a lot more commonplace many years ago, but now with the awareness of the advantage and the safety measures that come from wearing a seatbelt it is just paramount, and it is so important that message is continued to be pushed out there. It is great to hear that our young people are picking up the message too but we have to keep on pushing that message.

I mentioned the MAC (Motor Accident Commission) that the government is currently selling off. I look back at the great advertising work they have done and the campaigns they have run. As an independent body they have done a very good job in pushing the advertising out there. I keep a very close eye on the moves the government is making to sell that off to make sure that that advertising campaign and that advertising push is still very prevalent in the community and people are getting that message all the time, because you have to keep delivering the message.

I also look at vehicle technology and see the great help that that has been—and we have looked at the figures already—and again the serious injury numbers are coming down in South Australia. Vehicle technology is just wonderful—from ABS to cruise control. The safety components and the advances in the area have been fantastic, and they are also a very big help.

I do reiterate that being friendly and helpful on the roads is a very important aspect, and it is something that I would like to see worked into our community more, pushed into our community more so that people take that little second longer to think about it and to potentially help someone else on the road, give them a chance, be patient and let people get to their destination safely so we can bring down that road toll number. I finish by reverting back to my friend's sister, Sally, who passed away, as I said, 30 years ago. It is something that is etched in my memory and will be forever. I hope that, as we work towards bringing the road toll down towards zero, potentially my kids and their kids will not grow up, like we probably all have, with the memory of someone who has died on the road remaining with us for a long, long time. I was just a young teenager, but it impacted me greatly and has stayed with me for a very long time.

If we work together that can be done, but I do commend the Road Trauma Support Team of South Australia with World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims on 15 November. I will be there thinking of Sally, and I hope everyone can take some time to think of people who have died on our roads and what we can do to make our roads safer.

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (11:45): I would like to make a contribution and to recognise World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, and mourn the mostly avoidable fatalities that happen on our roads. Sadly, a lot of South Australian roads are regional roads, and that seems to be where the majority of accidents happen. Sadly the bad accidents are fatalities and are, in many cases, incidents that touch someone's life, with the mourning of the death of a friend or a family member or someone you know, or an identity, and it really makes you reflect. As the member for Mitchell referred to, there is a common reflection on accidents and it is sad, and I guess it gives you a period of time to reflect when driving on things that you might do now that you would not have done before, knowing that potentially that accident was avoidable.

I would like to note that the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims is observed on the third Sunday of November each year, and will take place on 15 November this year. It was established by the United Nations in 2005, and this day was dedicated to remembering the many millions of deaths as a result of road crashes, and the impact on families and communities, as well as to paying tribute to the dedicated emergency crews, police and medical professionals who deal daily with the traumatic aftermath of a road death or injury.

As a community volunteer, as a person who has witnessed road death, it is a very horrific situation to deal with. I have had family who have died, good friends who have died, and it is something that is installed in your memory for the rest of your life. It is something that does make you reflect and want to be a better driver. You want to be surrounded with a safer environment on the road. It is not just the roads and the obstructions on the sides of the roads, but it is the oncoming traffic and in many cases it is the other driver. But what it is all about is just remembering the pain and suffering associated with what occurred with those road traffic victims.

Here in South Australia from 2010 to 2012 there were 172 fatal crashes and 1,059 crashes resulting in serious injuries on regional roads in South Australia. Many of these accidents could have been avoided. A lot of factors go into these crashes, sometimes fatigue, sometimes the condition of the road, and sometimes obstructions, barriers or trees, anything that gets in the way. Obviously a lot of it is human error, the saddest way to see accidents happen.

A recent YouTube clip, taken around the corner from my home in the Riverland, showed an incident where an oncoming driver fell asleep, crossed the white line, and, luckily for the oncoming driver, pushed him off the road, hit the Armco and flipped over. But he survived. He was one of the very, very lucky ones to do that.

The state's backlog of road maintenance is a concern. The RAA survey last year forecast that seven out of the 10 high-risk routes were in regional areas. Not only are regional areas disadvantaged by having to travel long distances, in many cases on roads that are not fit for the speed limit, but we have a government that is hell-bent on saying that if we reduce the speed limits on our roads, we are going to reduce the road toll.

Let me tell you that it is not just about reducing the speed limit: it is about educating our youth, in particular. It is even about educating our more senior drivers. As a middle-aged driver, I would like to think that if I went out and had a driving test today, I would pass it, but I can assure you that there are many people who would not pass a driving test. I do have a solution-based approach that I will put forward in a moment.

I drive many kilometres a year in my role representing the Riverland and the Mallee. I drive on regional roads and I spend a lot of time on the metropolitan roads here in Adelaide. The behaviour I see on our roads is questionable at times, but a lot of it is not just the fault of the drivers. There is a lack of shoulders and a lack of signage on our roads. Drivers are dealing with motorists who are speeding and with oncoming traffic which, particularly in regional situations, is heavy vehicle traffic in a lot of instances.

My electorate of Chaffey is home to an interstate federal highway. We have many vehicles particularly on the Sturt Highway and also on the Dukes Highway. The Sturt Highway takes more than 10,000 vehicles a day, but 33 per cent of those are trucks, heavy vehicles laden with freight, either coming to or going out of South Australia. We have a cocktail mix of heavy vehicles and passenger cars that are heading north or south. That is always fraught with danger, particularly with uneducated drivers who get onto our regional roads and try to overtake trucks in the wrong sections.

Our state government needs to take a more proactive approach. Rather than focusing on speed limits, they need to focus on the backlog of road maintenance. They need to look at the simple solutions and, yes, it is expensive, but a life is priceless. Helping to prolong life and reduce accidents is about doing the simple things: sealing shoulders, putting more signage on our roads and educating drivers, particularly our young drivers.

In the Riverland at the moment, there is an initiative in which a group of businesspeople is looking at developing a motorsport complex. Entwined in that motorsport complex is something that is very dear to my heart—a driver training facility, which will enable us to put our youth through an education program to better educate them.

Remember that in the electorate of Chaffey, in any of the regional electorates or even in any of the city-based electorates, at some point in time our young drivers will get onto country roads and experience 110 kilometres an hour. They will experience trucks coming at them and wide loads; they will experience the unexpected when they are on those roads, and I am afraid of that.

I have three children; one is a competent driver. He attended a driver training facility and he said that it is one of the best initiatives that he has undertaken. It has given him the edge when it comes to that unexpected situation, prepared him for when those situations arise. When those situations arise, you are always unprepared or unaware that something is about to happen, whether it is having to deal with an oncoming car that is overtaking, a truck coming at you at 110 km/h or having to pass a cyclist.

The government has made light of what the Liberal Party is trying to achieve, which is to understand the complexities about passing a cyclist. When we pass a cyclist on a double white line, what is coming the other way? I notice that the Minister for Transport made light of the member for Dunstan's cautious approach to this new law. Let me tell you: overtaking cyclists on double white lines when you have got oncoming traffic is a very dangerous situation, particularly in the Adelaide Hills when you are not only dealing with a double white line, you are dealing with oncoming traffic, you are dealing with a bend and you are dealing with low speed limits. How prepared are we for that type of situation?

In the small amount of time I have got left, there are potentially a couple of solutions that I would like to put on the table. Every person in South Australia is horrified when a truck comes down the Mount Barker Road on the Southern Expressway and runs out of brakes. It does not matter whether or not you are doing 60 km/h. When you have got no brakes, you have got no brakes. When you have got an engine brake that is not working, you have got no brakes.

Why are we looking at spending many millions of dollars on putting trucks down the Mount Barker Road, down through Portrush Road to the Port? Why are we not looking at alternatives? Why are we not looking at getting trucks off that South Eastern Freeway, at the Halfway House Road at Murray Bridge, sending them over to the Sturt Highway, putting in the Truro bypass and sending all that heavy transport down to the Port where it is inevitably going to be heading?

The numbers of trucks are increasing. We see the rail in South Australia has almost come to a halt, so we are going to see many more thousands of trucks on our roads heading into Adelaide. It is not just about not dealing with the road condition in the regional centres. Those trucks are headed for the Port, they are headed for the airport and they are headed for the logistical centres in Adelaide. What we need to do is divert those heavy vehicles out of the Hills and put them on the flat country, onto the Sturt Highway, to make our roads even safer. We need to educate our young. We need to have the driver training facilities to make our young safer on the roads.

Time expired.

Mr PENGILLY (Finniss) (11:56): I will not take up too much of the house's time on this matter but, along with others, I am supportive of the motion and, along with others who have spoken here today and probably others who are not in the house, deaths on roads have directly affected my family. My nephew was killed a few short years ago on his way home. He was T-boned. He was the passenger in the car when he was killed. His brother drove past and did not even know that his brother had just been killed—it was pretty horrendous.

Only today, we have a funeral in Mildura for a lad who was killed on Kangaroo Island a week or so ago. They have impacts but, for the life of me, I do not know why the message does not get through to some about, as someone said earlier, seatbelts and things like that. I do not want to go into it too much, but the tragic irony is that seatbelts would have made a big difference.

Let me just quote some figures here from last year. The average from 2010 to 2014 in metropolitan Adelaide was 32 road deaths in the city and 52 in the country. This year, there have been 37 in metropolitan Adelaide, which is up five, and country is down one, at this stage.

As the member for Chaffey said, country driving is completely different to city driving. Driving around at 60 km/h or 50 km/h in the city, people are still getting killed, but out in the country, where we have got to get from A to B at 110, 100 or whatever the case may be, I stand amazed at the driving behaviour of some of the drivers who are out there. They just do not understand.

I am a very regular user, obviously, of the Southern Expressway and the Adelaide to Victor road, which is always held up as a bad place for accidents. I shake my head on the Southern Expressway. If you happen to be driving down there at about half past four or 5 o'clock on a weekday at 100 km/h, there are people tailgating, pulling in and out and having absolutely no idea of what happens. The human body is not designed to pull up quickly from 100 km/h, and that is the reality.

We can make cars as safe as we possibly can with airbags, seatbelts and the whole lot, but I very rarely see a police car, an unmarked car or a highway patrol car on the Southern Expressway at that time of the day. For the life of me, I do not know why they are not there.

Some of these people are just complete fools. Your judgement does not allow you that two or three seconds gap if you are sitting less than a car length behind the car in front of you if it is doing 100 km/hr. How there are not more accidents there, I do not know, but the message just does not seem to be getting through. I am using it as an example; I am not talking about me. I sit on cruise control on 100 km/hr and it seems to me that most of the cars on the road pass me. Some of them have to be doing 115 or 120 and they are just getting away with it.

Driver education is terrific. Our three children are all grown adults now, but I still worry all the time about them being out on the roads. You do what you can to get them through their teenage years and learn to drive. Our kids all learnt to drive in the paddock from the time they were about four years old, I might add, which is—

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Four?

Mr PENGILLY: Four or five, yes, sitting on their father's knee, driving the ute around the paddock—not very fast, Madam Deputy Speaker, I might add. In the bush, they learn to drive early. They have to learn to drive early if they are on a farm particularly because they are out there helping you. That is just the way things are. Fortunately, our children survived their teenage years. You are listening to someone who is lucky to be here after some of the stupid, foolish things he did in motor cars in his youth, I can assure you.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: It is on the record.

Mr PENGILLY: I do not draw back from it. I was a passenger in a car that rolled at 112 miles per hour. I was in the passenger seat and I survived. There were three of us. The driver blacked out and I survived. I should not be here because of that accident, but I did have a seatbelt on.

We have to keep at driver education. We are never going to have a zero road toll. It is a fine thing to aim for, but it is just not going to happen. If you look at the long-term statistics, we have come down a long way from where we were 15 or 20 years ago, that is for sure, but it still happens. With the weekend coming up, heaven knows what the lead story will be on the news on Saturday, Sunday or Monday morning. It is frightening. Most of us have family out there driving around and you just live on a wing and a prayer all the time, I am afraid. But I am very happy to support the motion. With those few words, I will resume my seat.

Ms WORTLEY (Torrens) (12:02): It is significant that 15 November 2015 is World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims as it provides a focus for remembering those who have tragically lost their lives on South Australian roads. Families who have lost a loved one as a road traffic victim do not need a focus day: they remember every day. It impacts on their families and future generations. Of course, we also remember the victims and injuries that they have received. In closing, I would like to call on everyone to work together towards zero fatalities on our state roads.

Motion carried.