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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2008-09-11 Daily Xml
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ROAD SAFETY

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE (14:50): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Road Safety a question about the state of South Australian roads.

Leave granted.

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE: In recent weeks, there has been a disturbing number of car accidents and fatalities in the Adelaide Hills: on the Mount Pleasant to Williamstown Road on Monday 8 September; most recently, and again sadly, a fatality on Bald Hills Road near Mount Barker; and, from my perspective, as I live on the Mount Compass to Victor Harbor Road, several serious accidents in just the past few weeks.

I acknowledge that the road toll is down and that the government is moving towards achieving its strategic plan objective to reduce the road toll. On 9 September, Joanna Vaughan, a political reporter for The Advertiser, wrote that the number of crashes on country roads had dropped by more than 50 over three years; however, I have serious concerns about road safety in the country. My questions are:

1. Is the lower road toll due to the proper maintenance of roads, country people driving more slowly because of the condition of their roads or an improved police presence on our country roads?

2. Does the minister believe that the budget for the repair and maintenance of South Australian roads is adequate, particularly taking into account backlog maintenance?

3. How much money has been spent on road maintenance improvement on country roads (not including new roadworks) in the years 2005-06 and 2006-07?

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO (Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Road Safety, Minister for Gambling, Minister Assisting the Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (14:52): I thank the honourable member for his important question in relation to road safety. Like everybody else, I am pleased that our road trauma is down this year from that of last year. Nonetheless, we all recognise that we can never be complacent. Of course, one death is one too many, as is one serious injury, which can, of course, change people's lives forever. I acknowledge the role the media play in promoting road safety in our state. Clearly, I am aware of and support The Advertiser's Countdown 100 this year and again acknowledge its merit.

We know that there is no silver bullet to tackle road trauma in our state. Our limited success is a combination of very many factors. First, I recognise the raft of legislative changes in the state since this government came to power and the support of the opposition and other members in ensuring that legislation does get passed. Of course, with that legislation goes enforcement, and I recognise the role of SAPOL in ensuring that.

The police have their own road safety strategy, which they launched just after I became minister in 2006, part of which was to see a greater presence in South Australia. The state government also allocates specific funds to the rural saturation program. More importantly, the police made a concerted effort to have a greater presence in country South Australia and on the rural patrol highways.

I acknowledge a very important group in relation to road safety, namely, our community road safety groups, the majority of which are in country South Australia. They usually have membership from SAPOL, local councillors and those who have been affected by road trauma in their life—those who understand what it is like to lose someone. They are volunteers and very willingly give their time and talent because they know the issues that affect their communities

They are out there doing everything possible, such as ensuring that there is enough signage in the area, perhaps examining a particular small engineering issue that can be resolved, or otherwise bringing issues to me or to SAPOL. The funding for those road safety groups is now administered by the Motor Accident Commission, and none of us could have failed to notice exactly how much work and concerted effort goes into advertising, which is now signed off by me but certainly managed by the Motor Accident Commission. More and more often, we see more confronting advertising to make people stop and think about what they are doing. Again, that is another aspect. Of course, the department works incredibly hard. Quite a few programs have been undertaken, under the delegation of my portfolio, that are clearly part of my budget, and the inter-operability between the Department for Transport and road safety is obvious to everyone.

I do not have a figure in respect of the maintenance of country roads in rural South Australia with me at the moment, so I will bring back that information for the honourable member. Certainly, I believe that the concerted effort we have seen within the road safety portfolio has brought all the partners together. So, it is not one single thing. Again, I could go through them all and acknowledge the tremendous work that has been done.

In relation to policy advice, I acknowledge the work of Sir Eric Neal as chair of the Road Safety Advisory Council; he provides tremendous advice. I often refer things to that council, and it provides fearless advice to me. In relation to legislative changes, we have already announced that strengthened alcohol interlock legislation will be introduced into the chamber. I acknowledge that it was the former Liberal government, under the then minister Diana Laidlaw, that put in place the voluntary interlock system when it was in government. It has not proved to be a success because not enough people are taking it up, but we were the first state in Australia to do that. So, I acknowledge that the then minister had the initiative to explore whether something would work, and we have already announced that we will strengthen that system. Obviously, we have other legislative reviews in place.

As I have said, I will have to bring back further advice in relation to the maintenance budget for the honourable member. The honourable member has asked for information about the entire maintenance budget and, as I have said, given the inter-operability between road safety and DTEI, it is hard sometimes to break that down into its components. Last year, we commenced a new rural road safety program, and that has continued this year. We recognise that, particularly in country South Australia, shoulder sealing is very important, and that program is also continuing. I will bring back that further advice but, no, there is no one silver bullet at all.

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