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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-08-26 Daily Xml
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Road Safety Strategy to 2031

Ms LUETHEN (King) (14:33): My question is for the Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services. Can the minister please update the house on the development of South Australia's Road Safety Strategy to 2031?

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA (Hartley—Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services) (14:33): I thank the member for King for her question and her keen advocacy for her local residents and also interest in this particular area. We know that our Road Safety Strategy to 2031 is a key pillar in our fight to reduce lives lost and also serious injuries on our roads. After extensive stakeholder and community consultation, which included webinars, online forums, local government and key stakeholder consultation via the YourSAy website, and community workshops at key regional locations—for example, Tintinara, and Loxton in the member for Chaffey's electorate, and Yorketown in the member for Narungga's electorate—the draft version of the Road Safety Strategy to 2031 has actually been released.

What you see is that we have some bold, ambitious targets: firstly, to reduce lives lost by 50 per cent by 2031 and serious injuries by 30 per cent by 2031. The draft strategy therefore proposes those very ambitious targets but, based on the baseline three-year average from 2018 to 2020 and the median population projection from the ABS, what those targets would see is the number of lives lost on our roads each year drop, from 96 to fewer than 47 per year, and the number of serious injuries drop, from 708 to 515 per year. They are ambitious targets, but they need to be.

The draft strategy identifies some key areas of focus and, if they are addressed, they will go a long way to achieving those targets—for example, supporting and enforcing safer road-user behaviour, which is very important; increasing the use and purchase of safe vehicles in our state; and of course also improving the design, construction and maintenance of road infrastructure right across the network. Reducing the number of lives lost and serious injuries in regional and also remote areas and developing a culture of road safety in South Australian workplace are also very important.

We know that we have to do more to reduce the over-representation of Aboriginal people in road crashes. A greater focus needs to be on older road users, aged 70 and above. We need to continue to improve safety for people who walk and also those who cycle and have a renewed focus on young people who live in regional or remote areas. We need to reduce their over-representation in road crashes.

Importantly, for the strategy to be successful and impactful, what we need is the help of all South Australian road users, so I would encourage everyone to get involved. That's why we are asking those in our state to have their say on the draft strategy, to provide their feedback and also their thoughts about what will make our roads safer. There are a number of things you can do, whether you walk or ride or drive or travel as a passenger. We want the views of South Australians to inform the strategy to make it as effective as possible.

So far, over 800 South Australians have logged onto the YourSAy website to have their say. We have received nearly 300 detailed submissions. We would like to see a few more, of course. I would encourage all members and indeed all South Australians to log onto the YourSAy website by 5pm on 1 September to help make our roads safer and provide that feedback.

We know that the devastation caused by lives lost and also serious injuries on our roads is beyond tragic, not only for the individuals who are involved but, of course, for their families and their loved ones as well. There is no silver bullet that can eliminate all risk on the road, but our government appreciates that we need to do more and work with the South Australian community. That's why we are delivering a multipronged approach to reduce lives lost and also serious injuries on our roads in the state.

In addition to the development of our Road Safety Strategy to 2031, our approach includes targeted communications campaigns, tough legislative amendments to target dangerous driving and improved infrastructure as well. We will continue to work hard to implement measures to keep South Australians safe on the road.

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