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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-09-26 Daily Xml
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PEDESTRIAN SAFETY

The Hon. R.B. SUCH (Fisher) (12:47): I move:

That this house requests the state government to undertake a comprehensive review of the road laws relating to pedestrians in order to help improve their safety.

Pedestrians—and I guess we all come under that category at one time or another—I believe often get overlooked in regard to road safety matters. It is not totally correct to say that, because in the Road Safety Action Plan, which has just been released and which is on the Notice Paper for discussion as a separate item, there is reference to pedestrian safety. But, I think it is fair to say, overall and over time there seems to be little attention paid to the safety and wellbeing of pedestrians. There is a quote from Prince Charles in which he says:

The whole of the 20th Century has always put the car at the centre. So by putting the pedestrian first, you create these liveable places, I think, with more attraction and interest and character...liveability.

I am a car user and car owner, and I think it is true to say that the car has come to dominate many aspects of our society. In the process, I think consideration of the wellbeing of the pedestrian has been overlooked. According to SAPOL data, this year there have been 13 pedestrian deaths compared to eight last year. The figures have changed over time. When the urban default speed limit (of which I was a strong supporter) was introduced in 2003, the number of pedestrian deaths fell from 17 in that year to 12 in the following year, but they gradually increased and have gone back up to some of those earlier levels. In 2007 there were 17 pedestrians killed, 16 in 2010 and 17 again in 2011.

Any death is sad and unfortunate. There are many causal factors that I could relate. Just briefly, serious injuries to pedestrians are categorised in court according to local government areas. In the City of Adelaide in the period 2008 to 2012—and these are serious injuries—there were 70; in Port Adelaide Enfield, 44; Charles Sturt, 38; Playford, 37; Salisbury, 33; West Torrens, 26; Onkaparinga, 26; Norwood Payneham St Peters, 25; Holdfast Bay, 19; Marion, 18. What that tells us is there are issues affecting the safety of pedestrians right across the metropolitan area. I do not have the figures in front of me for country towns but I am sure there would be an indication there of issues of serious injury to pedestrians.

According to statistics, one in every eight road users is a pedestrian. It is quite an unusual concept really because in some ways they should not be on the road. There is an average of 93 pedestrians seriously injured in South Australia each year, and that is on top of the fatalities, and 283 who receive minor injuries. I guess any injury is not necessarily minor.

With crashes, 61 per cent that resulted in a serious or fatal injury to a pedestrian were during the hours of 7am to 7pm. The peak time for accidents for pedestrians was between 3pm and 7pm. The risk of an accident involving a pedestrian substantially increases at night time. While only 30 per cent of casualty crashes involving pedestrians occurred between 6pm and 6am, when they did occur, 38 per cent of them were fatal or involved a serious injury. This compares to 23 per cent during the day.

On average, 29 per cent of pedestrian fatalities and serious injury crashes involving pedestrians occur at intersections and 71 per cent at mid-block sections; that means where there are no intersecting roads which suggests that people are crossing a road clearly where there is no signalised provision or other safety provision. Of those who were injured or killed at an intersection, 61 per cent occurred where there was no traffic signal, so it highlights the point I just made.

This one is really on the head of the pedestrian—42 per cent of fatalities had a blood alcohol concentration of more than .05, so clearly pedestrians have a responsibility not to be consuming too much alcohol and then involving themselves in a road situation where it could result in a fatality or serious injury. Of those killed, 9 per cent had a positive test result for cannabis or some other drug. Once again, people are doing things which have a consequence in terms of their wellbeing and safety.

The percentage of pedestrian casualties by age group is spread unevenly with those in the age group 0-15 at 11 per cent; 16-24, 21 per cent; 25-30, 22 per cent; 40-59, 20 per cent; 60-79, 17 per cent; and 80-90 plus, 10 per cent. I have those figures as a percentage of population but I think the point is the serious accidents involving pedestrians span the whole age range and would reflect the extent to which people are out and about. You would not expect too many 90-plus people to be out late at night, but I do not know because I have not reached that age yet, so I am not sure what happens.

In New South Wales, in 2009 the Minister for Roads asked their Staysafe Committee to report on pedestrian safety and they came up with a lot of recommendations. They looked at a whole range of things: trends with regard to pedestrian injuries and fatalities; underlying causes of injuries and fatalities; incidence of drivers leaving the scene of the accident after hitting a pedestrian; effectiveness of measures to address pedestrian safety; additional strategies to increase pedestrian safety; and any other related matters, which is a parliamentary term that we are fond of, too.

What the committee found was that significant predictors of pedestrian casualty included judgement errors—I guess you could characterise that as being silly or stupid—and alcohol. They were two of the key ones. Other factors included the age of the pedestrian, gender—I would suspect men are more silly when it comes to crossing roads than women; they tend to be risk takers—road classification, speed limits, pedestrian controls, time of the day and the week, lighting, weather conditions and the type of vehicle involved.

The committee recommended greater emphasis on pedestrian safety in schools. Schools are asked to do everything these days but, clearly, if you are having any road safety program you need to acknowledge pedestrians, cyclists and, I guess, motorcyclists too. The committee also recommended greater emphasis on older pedestrians and deficiencies in road awareness. I do not know whether members have noticed but, particularly if there is no signalised crossing or safety crossing point, older people just say, 'Well, stuff it, I am crossing here.' I see it on Fullarton Road and often on other arterial roads. For some reason, some older people do not seem to want to walk to a signalised crossing or they just think they will take their chance and cross the road.

The committee also identified a lack of knowledge about Australian Road Rules. I think that applies to nearly everyone in the community. Australian Road Rules 72 to 75 talk about the obligation of a motorist to give way to pedestrians at intersections and other road-related areas. I am sure all members here have walked up to Rundle Mall and found that they have been challenged—putting it mildly—at an intersection or at some point where cars and pedestrians meet. It is almost as if the pedestrian is a second-class citizen: get out of the way or get run over. That is covered in Australian Road Rules 72 to 75.

We need updated and improved engineering solutions. South Australia does not have the zebra crossing. I still think there is merit in considering that. We have emu crossings and others. New South Wales has had the zebra crossing for a long time. I have not had a chance to research the effectiveness of them, but anyone who has driven in New South Wales would know that, if you step on one, the motorists stop, because if they hit you on a zebra crossing then they are in big trouble.

Other issues include short crossing times allowed in metropolitan settings. I think the Department of Planning now controls the city pedestrian lights. I requested that they have a look at the timing on some of them. There is one in Grenfell Street where people get sick of waiting for the light to change so they just take off. That is very dangerous. Obviously there has to be a balance between the vehicle and the pedestrian but, if you make people wait too long before they can cross with a green pedestrian light, they often think, 'Well, I am not going to hang around,' and off they go.

The committee also identified inadequate street lighting and inadequate crossing technology options as an issue, and another source of frustration for pedestrians is phasing of walk times at signalised intersections. I seek leave to continue my remarks.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.


[Sitting suspended from 12:59 to 14:00]


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