WA Government road works slip behind as road toll rises
07 February 2007
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 programmes, according to the RAC.
"The state of our roads has been proven to have the biggest impact on how many people die and are injured in car accidents every year. Improving our roads will save as many lives as safer cars and improving driver behaviour combined*, so why are urgent road works improvements missing out on government funding?" asked David Moir, RAC Executive Manager for Member Advocacy.
The rate that Western Australians were dying on our roads, at 9.9 deaths per 100,000 people in 2006, was well above the Australian average of 7.8. In the past 10 years, WA has been consistently above the national trend and last year saw a 26 per cent increase in WA road deaths on 2005 with 204 people losing their lives.
"The State Government's Road Safety Strategy 2003-2007 has a target of five deaths per 100,000 people by the end of 2007. Clearly we are well behind that, so devoting the time and effort to getting our roads up to scratch is even more crucial," David said.
There is a backlog of projects to improve and replace old highway links that scored an unsafe two stars under the AusRAP safety rating system last year.** These include the Albany, Brockman Great Southern, Muir, South Western and Vasse Highways and the Old Coast Road.
"The RAC understands that road authorities are facing the same cost pressures as everyone in this boom time to deliver on road projects but it has been shown over and over again that the ability of the road prevent crashes happening or reducing the severity of a crash can have a real impact on whether a person in a crash lives or dies."
The RAC is asking the State Government to increase the Main Roads WA road funding for the next financial year by $200 million to $950 million from the forecast $748 million. This could easily be covered from the forecast budget surplus of $1.7 billion for the 2006-2007 financial year. The extra funding would:
• Cover the spiralling road construction and maintenance costs
• Help clear the backlog of upgrades on unsafe highways
• Improve the safety & efficiency of the road network
• Ensure major projects are delivered on time
"Most of the road safety debate focuses on driver behaviour and, while this is very important, it is the road infrastructure that can have the greatest impact on the number of road deaths and injuries. Drivers do make mistakes and some of their decision making can be poor. However, they should not have to pay for these mistakes with their lives or the lives of others, when many injuries can be minimised by having better roads," David said.
The RAC represents more than 500,000 members, or one in two households and 42 per cent of WA drivers are members.
Figures taken from 30 June 2006 and 30 June 2002. Source: Australian Transport Safety Bureau
*The National Road Safety Strategy shows that by 2010, 700 Australia lives could be saved by improving the safety of our roads (332), improving the safety of our cars (175 lives), improving driver behaviour (158) and adopting smarter safety technology (35).
**The Australian Road Assessment Program (AusRAP) produces maps showing the risk of road crashes that cause death and life-threatening injury. It uses a 5-star system to rate roads for safety and highlights improvements that could be made to reduce the likelihood of crashes. AusRAP is run by the Australian Automobile Association, of which the RAC is a member.