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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-06-15 Daily Xml
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Road Toll

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA (Hartley) (14:21): My question is to the Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services. How is the government responding to the road toll on South Australian roads? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: The current number of fatalities on South Australian roads so far in 2023 is 59 and that represents an over 60 per cent increase from the same time last year.

The Hon. J.K. SZAKACS (Cheltenham—Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services) (14:22): I thank the member for his question and, whilst I acknowledge that it is not common and, in fact, against standing orders to refer to debate in this place, I note the member for Hartley's very genuine and very constructive comments made in this place just before the lunch break regarding our government's initiatives regarding high-powered vehicles, very strongly supported, in a true demonstration of bipartisanship by the Liberal opposition.

In his remarks, the member for Hartley talked about road safety, with the pursuit of zero road fatalities being one of those very few matters in politics more broadly which commands non-partisanship and very much bipartisanship support, and on which it is incumbent upon every single person in this place to lend our voice in order to drive down the road toll.

It is entirely correct to categorise the start of 2023 as a shocker. There has been no hiding from that and nor should there be any hiding from that for the South Australian community. The majority of those deaths we have seen on our roads in 2023 have been preventable. A very high proportion of those road fatalities have involved single vehicle collisions—never an accident, always a crash or collision—but those single vehicle collisions have been very high in proportion to the overall road toll.

While there are factors which do demonstrate that potentially 2023 will show a different start to the year to 2022—for example, it is absolutely no secret that in January, February and March and even April of 2022 there were still a whole series of very significant restrictions in place that were imposed because of the pandemic, in terms of movement and enjoyment of community.

That meant that there were simply many fewer vehicles on our roads and, in course, fewer people driving more significant distances. But that is no excuse, nor should it be taken as an excuse, because every single death on our roads needs to be treated as preventable. That does go some way to demonstrate why, as part of the 2023 budget, already announced but to be formalised today with the Treasurer's address very shortly, there is an over $90 million package to deliver safer outcomes, safer roads and safer drivers here in South Australia.

I think everybody in this place would understand that there are a series of moving parts when it comes to road safety. It starts, quite frankly, in the years of three, four and five. It was just in the last couple of days that I was speaking to the amazing road safety team at SAPOL, those who run the Road Safety Centre, about the extreme amount of effort being put into improving the throughput of people as young as five, six or seven. I have a three year old and an eight year old, and I can tell you this: there are no greater advocates in the backseat of our cars than our children.

When you are driving, just remember that voice behind you. I can tell you—and I am sure that others in this place would reflect the same—that my eight year old, if I can indulge, is the start of what needs to be a massive throughput, with each and every one of us committing ourselves to better outcomes on our roads.

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