Country road toll surges as major parties stay silent
06 August 2010
The RAC says a surge in country road deaths in Western Australia has placed a spotlight on the lack of funding commitments for road safety from major parties in the Federal election campaign.
Five regional road deaths have been recorded in the past five days in a horror week on our country roads. In the latest fatalities, two people were killed in a crash this morning on the South West Highway near Pinjarra.
In the first three months of this year, 10 deaths were recorded on country roads (average 3.3 per month).
In the four months since, 48 people have lost their lives (average 12 per month).
The RAC is calling on both major parties to contribute $50million p.a. to a Regional Road Rescue program to underpin a decade of action to lift country road safety standards.
The funding would be matched dollar-for-dollar by the State government, providing a pool of $100million a year.
RAC Head of Member Advocacy Matt Brown says voters in country electorates should be demanding action from their local candidates.
“The rate of road deaths on regional roads in Western Australia is comparable to some third world countries,” Mr Brown said.
“It’s been estimated that it could take up to 25 years to lift country road safety standards under the current levels of funding.
“The RAC’s Regional Roads Rescue program could help cut that to just 10 years.”
He said the RAC has always argued that fixing our country roads won’t happen overnight; it will take a decade long commitment.
“With Western Australia’s economy and population growing strongly, there will be more vehicles and more heavy traffic on our country roads.
“We need to make a decision now about whether we are going to accept more deaths or if we are going to do something about it.
“Now is the time for Canberra to invest some serious money into making road travel in regional Western Australia safer for all road users.”
The Regional Roads Rescue program is part of the RAC’s “Take the Brakes Off” campaign which sets out priorities for the next Federal government:
www.rac.com.au/takethebrakesoff Download the release (pdf)