Highway holiday warning for travellers

21 December 2009

The RAC is warning motorists to take extra care over the holiday period especially if they are
travelling in regional areas because of the unforgiving nature of much of Western Australia’s
highway network.

A report in 2007 commissioned by the RAC identified there were more than 1,000kms of
‘substandard’ highway predominantly in the South West of Western Australia.

These substandard sections were rated with just two stars out of five according to the Australian
Road Assessment Program (AusRAP), which is designed to assess the safety performance of the
road’s design. Australia’s motoring clubs, including the RAC, believe the minimum standard for a
highway should be four stars.

Four of the substandard sections of road were recently re-rated and although some improvements
have been made they still offer little in the way of protection for motorists involved in an accident
according to RAC Head of Member Advocacy Matt Brown.

“The holiday season is a time when people travel around the state to visit family and friends or to
take a well earned break,” Mr Brown said.

“Often they are driving on unfamiliar roads and these can be very different from roads in
metropolitan WA.

“For example even if you could travel on the highway at 110kmh, it would be undivided which
increases the likelihood of head on collisions.

“These roads also might have poor overtaking provisions, insufficient lane and shoulder width as
well as a high number of hazardous roadside objects such as trees.”

Mr Brown said run off road accidents involving a tree or post were the most prevalent in regional
and remote areas in WA.

“If you are driving in regional WA take much more care because the road network is so unforgiving.
There is an increased likelihood of losing control of your vehicle because of loose gravel by the
sides of roads and there is more likelihood of slamming your car into a tree.

“Our message to motorists who are travelling this Christmas is be extra vigilant, drive carefully and
stick to the speed limit.

“Too often rash decisions on our roads lead to a holiday of woe for others.”

List of roads to be especially watchful on:

The worst sections of highway in WA
Rank	Road	Sections (between)	Distance
1	South West Highway	Bridgetown and Manjimup; Byford; Hamel to Cookernup	73km
2	Brookton Highway	Karragullen	10km
3	Bussell Highway	Cowaramup and Margaret River	10km
4	Vasse Highway	Yeagarup	15km
5	Brockman Highway	Darradup and Jalbarragup (Stacey Road)	10km
6	Muirs Highway	West of Strachan	10km
7	South Coast (West) Highway	Peaceful Bay to Parryville	15km
8	Great Northern Highway	Bindoon and Wannamal	5km

Download the release (pdf)