Nine-year strategy blueprint earns industry backing
The Western Australian Government has proposed a nine-year strategy to address single vehicle regional road crashes in order to reduce serious injuries and fatalities – and is calling on federal counterparts to get on board with the initiative.
The regional road safety initiative focuses on a capital intensive program of civil construction works to provide sealed shoulders, install audible edge-lining and where required metre-wide audible median or centre-lines on more than 17,400 kilometres of the regional road network.
The state government notes that, of the 159 fatalities in WA last year, 100 occurred on regional roads with most involving a single vehicle running off the road or drifting into the path of an oncoming vehicle, causing a head-on crash.
“The annual community cost of this trauma is $900 million, while the emotional trauma cannot be measured.”
Major routes initially targeted would include:
- Great Eastern Highway (Perth to Northam);
- Great Northern Highway (Muchea to Wubin);
- South Western Highway (Perth to Donnybrook); and,
- North West Coastal Highway (Karratha to Roebourne).
Modelling undertaken using roads where the same safety treatments have been introduced shows the strategy could reduce road trauma in regional WA by 60 per cent.
Read about industry refuting Roe 8 funding claims, here
The strategy target would be $100 million a year over nine years – $80 million from the Federal Government and $20 million from the State through the Road Trauma Trust Account, the WA government says.
“The State and Federal Government have previously worked together well on the issue of road safety and I would like to see us build on that success,” Transport Minister Rita Saffioti says.
“I am hoping the Federal Government will seriously consider a partnership to deliver a road safety strategy, which will be a game changer for regional WA. It is totally in line with its views on reducing road trauma on country roads nationally.
“We believe the $1.2 billion they have locked away for the flawed Perth Freight Link would be better spent on a targeted program to save lives on regional roads.
“Infrastructure Australia, in its 2019 Infrastructure Priority List, noted that crashes in regional Australia between 2008 and 2016 accounted for 55 per cent of road deaths which was four times greater than for major cities over the same period.
“The program of works will also provide an economic boost in regional WA, creating on-going jobs and development and training opportunities, particularly for Aboriginal people.
“Works could begin on a large scale as soon as funding is available because Main Roads has all the required vegetation clearing permits and maintenance contracts in place.”
The inititiative earned the support of state road transport peak body Western Roads Federation.
“Regional road run off program is a great road safety initiative of Rita Saffioti,” WRF tweets.
“We support the 17,400km program proposal to apply audible line and shoulder treatment. Hopefully it will attract federal funding support.”