RAC is welcoming the establishment of a funding partnership between the State and Federal Governments commencing the delivery of critical road safety upgrades across regional WA.
The Regional Road Improvement Program has received its first year of funding with the Federal Government allocating $80 million to the program in 2020-21 and the State Government contributing $20 million.
RAC General Manager Corporate Affairs Will Golsby said it’s positive to see action through the Regional Road Improvement Program, which RAC has been calling on governments to fund since February last year (2019).
“We welcome the announcement of a funding partnership between the State and Federal governments to begin rolling out vital, life-saving upgrades to around 1,400 kilometres of WA’s regional road network,” Mr Golsby said.
“WA’s regional roads are some of the most dangerous in the country and it’s encouraging to see our governments recognise the Regional Road Improvement Program as a critical project for our State.
"We now encourage agreement to be reached quickly to further fund and deliver the entire program because Government action can help save lives and stop serious injuries on our regional roads.
“Funding this life-saving, job creating, stimulus program in full and over a shorter period would provide much needed certainty for regional communities.
“This certainty is needed because the entire program provides the opportunity to help save more than 2,000 people from being killed and seriously injured, reduce regional road trauma by around 60 per cent, upgrade more than 17,000 kilometres of regional roads, and create thousands of jobs – we believe this is something we can all commit to.”
Regional WA’s fatality rate is six times higher than metropolitan Perth, with more than 3,200 people killed and seriously injured on our regional roads between 2014 and 2018 alone.
So far this year, 65 lives have been lost on WA’s roads — with 60 per cent of those deaths in our regional areas. Many more have been seriously injured.
For more information on RAC’s call for a Regional Road Safety Package please visit our website.
RAC Media Contact: Caitlin Barr, 0401 703 719 or media@rac.com.au
