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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-07-03 Daily Xml
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LEVEL CROSSINGS

The Hon. B.V. FINNIGAN (15:18): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Road Safety a question about level crossings.

Leave granted.

The Hon. B.V. FINNIGAN: In this budget, the state government has allocated $13.3 million over four years to a new level crossing safety program. Will the Minister for Road Safety please explain the various components of the program?

Members interjecting:

The Hon. B.V. FINNIGAN: Perhaps the members opposite should go to Martin's website and update the news poll. I noticed that they have not put it there, not surprisingly. Will the Minister for Road Safety explain the various components of the program and how it will help achieve the road safety target in the State Strategic Plan?

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO (Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Road Safety, Minister Assisting the Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (15:19): I thank the honourable member for his question and also for being at Wolseley, I think it was, last Sunday.

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO: You were at Wolseley last Sunday?

An honourable member: And Bordertown.

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO: And Bordertown, because he is a local lad. He's a local gentleman. The state government is committed—

The Hon. R.P. Wortley interjecting:

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO: Well, I am advised that he may be the only country member left in the chamber. The state government is committed to reducing crashes at level crossings, and the new Level Crossing Safety Program will achieve this through education, enforcement and engineering.

This program has been formulated from recommendations made by the State Level Crossing Strategy Advisory Committee, which was revamped under my direction at the end of 2006. This committee is made up of representatives from the Department for Transport, Energy and Infrastructure; the Australian Railtrack Corporation; Great Southern Rail; the Local Government Association; Pacific National; Australian Rail; the Tram and Bus Industry Union; the RAA; SAPOL; and TransAdelaide.

The education components will include the ongoing use of the highly successful 'Don't play with trains' media campaign in conjunction with SAPOL enforcement campaigns. There will be the development of a new package for press and radio ads, a continuing emphasis on Rail Safety Week and specific targeted campaigns.

This component recognises that road user behaviour at level crossings is a major contributing factor in the incidence of level crossing crashes. The enforcement component will involve the installation of cameras at high-incident level crossings controlled by flashing lights. It is likely that these will be red light/speed cameras as we have installed at Park Terrace. However, new technology will also be investigated.

The engineering component will include improvements to address sight distance issues, short stacking of heavy vehicles, traffic queueing and upgrading advance warning signs. The priority will be level crossings along rail corridors with the highest train numbers and train speeds for both freight and passenger trains.

Consideration will also be given to the Australian Level Crossing Assessment Model (ALCAM), risk assessment, crash and near miss statistics, B-double routes and incident reports from the rail industry. It is also proposed that the engineering component will include dedicated funding to partner with local government to improve the safety at level crossings on local roads.

The state government has spent around $13 million since 2003-04 to improve level crossing safety by addressing traffic queueing at metropolitan crossings, sight distance deficiencies, the short stacking of heavy vehicles and more recently the installation of flashing lights at high-risk rural crossings used by heavy vehicles.

The new multifaceted Level Crossing Safety Program complements this work and more importantly broadens the scope to include education and enforcement components. In addition, as has been mentioned in this chamber before, expiation fees for level crossing offences, which were previously between $183 and $223, were increased in line with expiation fees for road intersection offences to $297 on 17 December 2007 and now to $307 from 1 July 2008. The state government is also working to establish road/rail interface agreements as part of the national model rail legislation that was approved by the Australian Transport Council in December 2007.

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