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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2008-09-10 Daily Xml
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VICTOR HARBOR-ADELAIDE ROAD

Mr PENGILLY (Finniss) (16:33): Today, I turn my attention to the matter of the Victor Harbor-Adelaide Road and, in particular, I speak about the intersection of Waterport Road, Welsh Road and Victor Harbor Road down near Urimbirra. The Fleurieu Road Safety Group, the City of Victor Harbor Council, numerous residents, itinerant and regular visitors, the Victor Harbor Times, local radio stations, the adjacent landholders and particularly emergency services and police: these are just some of the people who have expressed their major concerns over that intersection and also over the Victor Harbor-Adelaide Road generally.

This road is travelled by tens of thousands, indeed hundreds of thousands, of vehicles per year and I can tell you that the fatalities, serious injuries and the ongoing accidents that have taken place on this road are starting to wear people down. That was exacerbated yesterday when there was another accident there, a rollover near the Goolwa turnoff. Last week there was an accident up near the alpaca farm—near Woodcone Road, I think it is—where once again there were serious injuries and then only a couple weeks ago down on the intersection of the Welsh Road, Waterport and Victor Harbor Road there was a fatality where a vehicle did not give way to the right and the death of a man from Mount Compass was recorded. It was a very sad incident, and it is just ongoing.

A few short months ago we had lights installed on the corner. They have aided that corner, which is a very bad corner, because it is a mishmash of roads, and it is a 100 km/h zone. I call on the government to get on top of this problem sooner rather than later, to listen to those names and those organisations that I listed before, and to do something about this corner as a priority before more lives are lost and more serious accidents and injuries occur.

Nothing short of a rural roundabout is needed and to slow down that section of road immediately to 80 km/h. Nothing is more important than doing that as soon as possible. These tragedies—fatalities and serious incidents—cannot go on. It is ludicrous that the department does not seem to want to listen to local people at all. They are disregarding the local authorities, the police and the emergency services and saying it is okay. I can tell you, Madam Deputy Speaker, that it is not okay. It is a disaster.

I go through that corner on countless occasions and every time I get near that intersection I get worried and somewhat 'derailed' about the driving conditions through there. It concerns locals greatly and, generally speaking, the whole road between Main South Road and Victor Harbor desperately needs more attention. I acknowledge that passing lanes have been added and I also acknowledge that you cannot do much about people's stupidity. There is much stupidity on the roads; we all know that.

You cannot do much about speeding. Regularly I report trucks that tailgate me. I am sick of them; I am absolutely fed up with them. When they think they are driving along a road in the city bumper-to-bumper doing 100 km/h, I just pull over, get their number and I ring the company and let them sort it out because I am fed up with them. The police are fed up with them. They have speed cameras there at various times, as they do the motorbike police and unmarked cars, yet it goes on.

So, I plead with the government to get serious about this road and to do something about it sooner rather than later but, more particularly, to do something about this terrible intersection which is still claiming lives. I recall two fatalities there in the recent past, including the one a fortnight ago. We have to do something everywhere on the roads but this particular intersection can be adjusted quickly by slowing down the traffic to 80 km/h. It could be different if it were totally redesigned and made a proper intersection with a rural roundabout. It would require money, of course; I acknowledge that. It would require dealing with landowners and getting the land so that the roads that lead into it could be reconfigured, but then it would be sorted out.

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