Chester has handed out new funding for 108 black spots and appointed new chairs in five states and territories
Victorian roads users will have 108 ‘Black Spot’ locations fixed under a new $33.4 million funding package from the federal government.
Announced by federal infrastructure and transport minister Darren Chester today, the funding targets sites identified as ‘high priority projects’ by the Victorian Black Spot panel because of their association with previous accidents.
The funding allocated by the panel, which represents the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria, the Victorian Transport Association, Victoria Police, the Municipal Association of Victoria and VicRoads, stems from the government’s $500 million Black Spot Programme announced in 2014.
Running until 2019, the national programme aims to improve the safety of the Australian road network.
“Our Black Spot Programme plays a big part our agenda, by helping fix dangerous locations by funding the installation of traffic signals, roundabouts, safety barriers and other improvements,” Chester says.
The chair of the panel Andrew Broad says the funding will fix locations across 40 council areas.
“Each of these sites have been identified as high priority projects, with 24 fatal and 474 injury crashes recorded at the sites being covered,” Broad says.
“Each improvement we make at these locations will make an important contribution to reducing our national road toll.”
National changes
Alongside the Victorian funding, the federal government has announced the chairman of the Black Spot Consultation Panels in Western Australia, Tasmania, South Australia, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory.
In WA, Chester has reappointed Senator Dean Smith as Chair of the Western Australia Black Spot Consultative Panel.
In the ACT, Senator Zed Seselja has also been reappointed to the local position, as had Senator Nigel Scullion in the Northern Territory.
The two new appointments are the federal member for Barker Tony Pasin in South Australia and Senator Jonathon Duniam in Tasmania.
Welcoming all the appointments, Chester says all will need to work with their respective associations, groups and industry members.
“With anyone able to nominate a Black Spot for funding, this appointment requires working with the community, industry, and the state government to determine which projects should be funded,” he says.