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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2016-07-26 Daily Xml
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Road Safety

The Hon. G.A. KANDELAARS (15:30): My question is to the Minister for Road Safety. Can the minister advise the chamber about what the government is doing to encourage communities to choose safer, greener and more active travel options?

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (15:30): I would like to thank the Hon. Mr Kandelaars for this important question about an important subject. This week, it was my pleasure to announce that the Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure, with the support of the Motor Accident Commission, is offering $100,000 in grants under this year's community grants program. For members who are not aware, this fantastic initiative, which launched in 2011, has funded a total of 81 projects across the state with a combined value of more than $350,000 to help groups and organisations deliver small-scale projects that support safer, greener and more active travel choices.

These innovative projects can focus on improving road safety, getting people cycling, walking or catching public transport, replacing car journeys with technology, doing things locally or the smart use of cars. Applications are assessed on a number of criteria, including the potential for travel behaviour to be influenced beyond the life of the project, value for money, capability to measure the results of the project and the degree to which the project is likely to influence the travel behaviour of the target group.

One recent example of a successful project was $11,000 for Yorke Peninsula Community Transport Incorporated, who use their funds to provide videoconferencing equipment for staff, board members and volunteers to avoid travelling long distances for face-to-face meetings. By reducing the travel on country roads, they aim to make a positive impact on road safety with a reduction of risk of road crashes.

Another great example was almost $4,000 which went to the Friends of The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, who use their grant to help resolve issues of providing an alternative travel option for volunteers who are considering retiring from driving. It is also aimed to encourage greater attendance by volunteers during bad weather to save car parking spaces at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Having had my grandmother volunteer at the Friends of TQEH for many, many years, that was a project I was very impressed to learn about.

As a result, they established a carpooling project amongst their working volunteers and, in the first few months, achieved six fewer cars resulting in 678.4 fewer kilometres travelled and a contribution to road safety, six car spaces saved at TQEH per week and 39 less reimbursed bus trips per week—a cost saving for The Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Some of the volunteers involved also reported that carpooling helped them make stronger friendships within the friends group, which led to a few people completing extra shifts per week. A small group of volunteers has also continued to carpool with each other.

As you can see, the community grants program is a fantastic initiative which encourages the community to consider alternatives to car journeys. It takes a whole of community approach to improve road safety, and this government is proud to offer its continuing support. The latest round opened on Monday and, importantly, applications close on 4 September 2016. Until then, I encourage all members to help spread the message of this great program to their constituents, as well as community groups and organisations. Further information can be found on the front page of the DPTI website right now, and I wish all our applicants the very best with their innovative ideas.

Importantly, only this afternoon I did a radio interview with ABC Riverland to talk about some successful projects that occurred in the Riverland under these community grants program. Some innovative ideas have come out of the Riverland, and I think this is a demonstration of the breadth of the geography towards which we are willing to commit these grants. This is in no way, shape or form a grant program that is specifically aimed at metropolitan South Australia; we are also very keen to make sure that a large number of applicants come from regional South Australia. Of course, we know all too well that a disproportionately large percentage of road accidents that result in death or serious injury in the state of South Australia do occur within our regions.

There is a whole range of innovative ideas that different community groups may be able to come up with that reduce the likelihood of accidents occurring on our roads. They may be innovations like the one I referred to in the Riverland, where a community group was able to invest in a teleconferencing facility which not only resulted in a more efficient means of communicating for short periods of time but also resulted in less travelling having to occur on our roads which, of course, reduces the likelihood of accidents.

I commend this program to the community and encourage interested applicants to apply as soon as possible.

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