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Two star highways top RAC members' list of unsafe roads

08 February 2007

Through its Risky Roads campaign RAC asked its members to nominate safety flashpoints on their local roads and the three highways topped the regional list.

"This reinforces the findings of our recent AusRAP star rating assessment of the safety of WA's rural highways. Parts of the South West Highway and Great Northern Highway both scored poorly in that report receiving a sub-standard two stars," said David Moir, Executive Manager of Member Advocacy at the RAC.

The aim of the Risky Roads campaign was to tap into RAC members' knowledge of the roads they use every day and give the feedback to the Government to ensure that our members' concerns are addressed and Western Australia's roads become safer. The RAC received more than 550 nominations of Risky Roads.

"We were pleased to find that Main Roads WA and the relevant local councils were undertaking or planning a number of improvements to these locations but we still have concerns regarding the lack of overtaking facilities on the South West, Great Northern and Brand Highways," said David.

In the metropolitan area, local councils that received more than 25 nominations were Stirling, Swan, Cockburn, Wanneroo, Canning and Gosnells.

"The roads and sites of most concern in Perth were the intersection of Armadale and Tapper Roads in the City of Cockburn, and the high traffic volumes on Gnangara Road in the City of Wanneroo and the Reid Highway," said David

The most common complaints were:
• Unsafe turns at intersections (29%)
• Intersection design (11%)
• Narrow roads or bridges (10%)

The RAC is asking the State Government to boost road funding by a further $200 million to $950 million in the next budget to make urgent road improvements. Some 25 extra Western Australian lives could be saved each year and 430 injuries avoided by 2008 if the State Government completed a backlog of work on unsafe highways and committed additional funding to local road programs.

Top Risky Roads