RAC calls for commitment to cut regional road deaths

17 June 2009

The RAC has called for a long term commitment backed with funding from the Royalties for Regions program to cut the number of road deaths in regional Western Australia.

In a submission to the WA National Party, the RAC has detailed how a “Regional Roads Rescue Program” could help cut country road crashes by up to 40 per cent using a targeted mix of road safety treatments.

The submission calls for WA to follow the lead of Victoria which has successfully cut its number of country road deaths by making serious, long term investments to lift the safety standards of country roads.

The RAC submission calls for a modest initial investment of $25million in the first year, followed by $40million per annum over the remainder of the Royalties for Regions program. This would be in addition to road funding already provided by Federal, State and local governments.
RAC Head of Member Advocacy Matt Brown said the safety deficiencies of WA’s expansive regional road network couldn’t be fixed in one term of government.

“This challenge is going to require sustained investments over at least a decade to make significant inroads into the problem,” Mr Brown said.
“That’s why the on-going funding support from the Royalties for Regions program is essential for its success.

“The Regional Roads Rescue Program would treat road lengths with poor crash records – as opposed to programs such as Black Spots which target specific locations on roads.

“Main Roads would be tasked to design a road safety solution to treat the specific problem of the road in question. The solution would be a ‘fit for purpose’ response to the characteristics which make that stretch of road dangerous.

“Given that the majority of fatal accidents in regional areas are of a single-vehicle run-off-road nature, solutions would be heavily weighted to this threat.”

The RAC submission identifies a range of road safety treatment options available to fix our regional roads including sealing of shoulders, audible edge-lines, wire-rope barriers, safety guard rails, improved road alignment and overtaking lanes.

The full submission is available in our Road Safety section.

Download the release