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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-10-15 Daily Xml
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Road Safety

Mr McBRIDE (MacKillop) (14:45): My question is to the Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services. Can the minister update the house on how the Marshall Liberal government is building a safer road network for South Australia?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Before the Minister for Police commences—minister, just take a seat for a moment. The minister has the call.

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA (Hartley—Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services) (14:45): Thank you, Mr Speaker, and I thank the member for MacKillop for his very important question. I certainly enjoyed spending some time with the member for MacKillop in his electorate, visiting the very hardworking men and women working on the border down there at Bordertown, keeping South Australians safe.

It's a very important question, obviously. We know that every life lost on our roads is certainly a tragedy. We have lost, unfortunately, 68 lives on our roads this year—far too high, much lower than the 85 the year before but nonetheless far too high. We know that—

Mr Odenwalder: Where's your motorbike legislation? Where is it? Two and a half years of waiting.

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Elizabeth!

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: —every life lost on the road is completely preventable and avoidable, and that's why we're doing all we can as a government to make sure that we keep those lives lost the lowest number possible. We know that there's no single quick fix that will reduce our road toll to zero; however, the Marshall Liberal government is certainly taking a multipronged approach to improve road safety for South Australians.

As we have heard time and time again, we are upgrading roads as part of our massive $12.9 billion investment in the state's infrastructure. Obviously that not only reduces congestion but will also have positive benefits for road safety. Some of these upgrades include, of course, the upgrade of the Goodwood Road, Springbank Road and also the Daws Road intersections, with extra lanes of realignment on Springbank and Daws roads, improved pedestrian crossings and dedicated bike lanes. That will certainly make a huge difference to the thousands of South Australians who use intersections each day.

Ms Stinson interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Badcoe!

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: The member for Elder, a hardworking local member, has been a tireless and fierce advocate for this $60 million—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Badcoe will cease interjecting!

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: —long overdue upgrade that will also create over 40 jobs each year for the life of the project, I'm informed. Of course there's also the $19 million upgrade of the Main North Road and Nottage Terrace intersection, something I know the member for Adelaide has fought hard about for some time. She has been calling for that for a number of years, ignored by the previous government, unfortunately. Additional turning lanes and priority bus lanes will improve conditions for not only the member for Adelaide's constituents but also people coming from the northern areas—for example, Tea Tree Gully and Golden Grove. I know that the member for Newland and the member for King are also very, very excited for this upgrade.

As I said, not only focusing on one aspect to improve road safety we also know that driver behaviour plays an enormous role in road safety. Recently, Mr Speaker, you may have seen it if you caught the evening news that night—I know you're a busy man, but if you did—I was able help launch SAPOL's latest road safety campaign with the police commissioner, Mr Stevens. Isn't he doing a fantastic job at the moment? The police are doing an absolutely superb job keeping us safe.

The latest features in that campaign, Mr Speaker, which you may have seen, are quite graphic and confronting. They focus on the attitudinal aspects of driver behaviour and they highlight how speeding even just a little bit over the limit can lead to tragedy, so it's an excellent campaign. Unfortunately, over the past five years, 97 lives have been cut short tragically as a direct result of excessive speed. This latest campaign really pushes the message that speeding can have tragic consequences.

With the Towards Zero Together road safety strategy set to end this year, we have also been busy this year helping to get community consultation to inform our next 10-year road safety strategy. I encourage members opposite to get online and pass it on to constituents because the new strategy will focus on helping to make our roads, whether regional, remote or metropolitan, safer overall so that South Australians can get to and from their work, school and shops with peace of mind. In order to develop a successful strategy, input from communities and stakeholders is crucial. The Marshall Liberal government is certainly building a safer road network. We are building what matters for South Australians.

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