MAIN NORTH ROAD

The Hon. C.V. SCHAEFER (15:02): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Road Safety a question about road safety on Main North Road.

Leave granted.

The Hon. C.V. SCHAEFER: Anyone who travels on Main North Road would agree that there is a desperate need for more passing lanes. One of my constituents has been lobbying for some time to have the 80-kilometre speed limit extended a little further north of Auburn on that road. He has a small cellar door to the north of the town, and he has witnessed a number of near misses as customers attempt to turn into his cellar door at a point at the end of a sweeping bend going north towards Clare.

It has now been brought to his and therefore my attention that TransportSA intends to build a passing lane in that area—not as one would presume going north, where people could pass before going around the sweeping bend, but in fact heading south. This will have the effect of creating three lanes of traffic heading south around a relatively blind corner at 100 km/h on the outskirts of a town. It is also in an area where trucks carting grapes and other crops will be forced to enter traffic on the outside of a passing lane. It would seem that this does not pass the commonsense test. Does the Department of Road Safety have any input into the placement of passing lanes and into the matter of where roadworks take place and, if not, why not?

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO (Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Road Safety, Minister for Gambling, Minister Assisting the Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (15:03): In relation to the extension of the 80 km/h zone on Main North Road just north of Auburn, and the request by a constituent to see a designated speed past his cellar door, the honourable member has mentioned a passing lane, and I presume that she means an overtaking lane. Overtaking lanes are very important in helping to reduce road trauma, and the program itself is sitting in the budget of my colleague in the other place, the Hon. Patrick Conlon in his capacity as Minister for Transport. That is because construction of an overtaking or passing lane involves a major infrastructure change.

I need to place that on record, because the Hon. Stephen Wade has accused this government of completely removing the program, which is not the case. As to the reason for choosing that spot, I do not have the relevant information, so I will refer the question to my colleague in another place and take some advice and bring back a response for the honourable member. No doubt there would be a very good reason why that particular overtaking lane has been situated where it is.