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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-04-30 Daily Xml
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SPEED LIMITS

The Hon. R.B. SUCH (Fisher) (11:33): I move:

That this house calls on the state government to carry out a statewide review of speed limits with a view to changing the speed limits where appropriate and to improve speed limit signage, including the painting of speed limits on main road pavements and special road situations where the speed limit is non-standard.

I will be very brief because I know that the Attorney wants to address his very important motion on genocide. The new Minister for Road Safety, the Hon. Michael O'Brien, has given a public undertaking to review speed limits. I am delighted with that. I understand that he will put in train, shortly, the mechanism to do that, and I will be very pleased to see that process occur.

I do not need to go through this in great detail. We all know of situations where the speed limit is considered inappropriate. In my electorate I have parallel roads which are identical in terms of housing and so on, yet they have different speed limits. There is a similar situation in the Parklands, and so it goes on.

The related aspect is not only that some speed limits may be inappropriate, but also whether people know what the speed limit is. I should point out, and it is no secret, that I have a court case coming on shortly, but that has nothing to do with this question of a particular speed limit. That is not germane to my court issue.

The question of signage for the public is very important. We know that speed limits change frequently in the Adelaide Hills and elsewhere. The bulk of the population does not intend to speed; the hoons might but the bulk of the population does not. So, I think it is only fair and reasonable that people know what the speed limit is, and if they break that then they wear the consequences but, in fairness, they need to know what the speed limit is.

I think we need to look at some innovative ways of making sure that people can easily recognise and know what the speed limit is so that they do not inadvertently break that limit. I commend the motion to the house. As I say, I think the commitment by the new Minister for Road Safety has somewhat overtaken the thrust of this motion, and I am pleased that he has decided to call for a review himself.

Mr PENGILLY (Finniss) (11:36): I am pleased to support the member for Fisher's motion. There is nothing quite so frustrating as speed limits in the country, particularly, let me tell you. As a regular user of the road between here and Victor Harbor, I have never counted them but I would suggest that I go through about 100 different speed limits on the way down.

The Hon. R.B. Such: And not at the same speed.

Mr PENGILLY: No. One never knows where one is. I do not want to join the former minister for road safety with a list of speeding fines, so I am very careful to make sure that I observe the right speed limit. That is not to say that I will not cross the threshold at some time, but I hope I do not. It is a nonsensical way of dealing with speed limits in South Australia. They are all over the place, and I find it extremely frustrating. What I find even more frustrating is the way that speed limits have changed without any consultation. You go through one day and it is 80 and then before you know where you are it is changed down to 60, or even 50, and there is no public information circulated about what is happening.

There is a yellow sign, and the speed limit is changed. The speed zone is changed to whatever it says, and you are caught between a rock and a hard place. I find it nonsensical. I also find it—and I am sure that the member for Stuart has spoken about this—absolutely point-blank ridiculous that we are held to 110 km/h out on open roads where you are driving 100, 200 or 300 kilometres between destinations with you and a couple of other cars on the road. It is madness.

I do not intend that we should go to the speed limit that used to operate in the Northern Territory where there was no speed limit, but for heaven's sake! We have cars now that are extremely safe, fitted with all sorts of devices such as airbags and heaven knows what else to protect drivers. You cannot protect from idiots on the road. However, the fact of the matter is that they are safe and, at speeds of 110, sometimes you feel like getting out and walking.

I urge the brand new Minister for Road Safety to have a good look at the member for Fisher's bill. Unfortunately his predecessor is done and dusted and gone forever as a road safety minister, so I am hoping that the new minister may be able to pick up on it and deal with it sensibly. Clearly, he does not have the same level of offences as his predecessor, so that is a step in the right direction. I urge the government to support the member for Fisher's motion. Let us get on with it.

Debate adjourned on motion of Mrs Geraghty.

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