Page 1554 - Week 05 - Thursday, 18 April 1991
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The assessment of the circumstances behind each fatal road accident, Mr Speaker, I can assure you, is most rigorous, with a senior engineer from my department attending the location of each fatality and discussing possible causes with the police in attendance at the scene. The purpose of attendance at the scene is to enable the engineer to assess the extent to which road conditions may have contributed to the accident and to what extent other driver-related conditions played a part.
The police are extensively consulted concerning road fatalities and the need for improvements. In particular, improvements at the intersections of Johnson Drive and Tharwa Drive, Mugga Lane and the Monaro Highway, and Antill Street and Challis Street resulted from these consultations. Fatal accidents which recently occurred on Kingsford Smith Drive, the Federal Highway, Ginninderra Drive, Mugga Lane, William Slim Drive and Hindmarsh Drive were all assessed by my officers and the police to be significantly contributed to by driver error as a result of either excessive speed or alcohol, or a combination of both.
In addition to allocating black spot funds to locations with a demonstrated significant level of deaths and serious injuries, it was agreed with the Commonwealth that it would also be appropriate to address locations where there was a demonstrated pattern of potential for serious accidents, especially those involving pedestrians. The inclusion of a project to install a pedestrian refuge in Anketell Street in the Tuggeranong Town Centre, to assist existing and future office workers and shoppers to cross this road to and from the Tuggeranong Hyperdome, falls into this category.
Mr Speaker, my department has an ongoing traffic management program to address road crashes in the ACT. Funding from the Commonwealth represents a small - it is small, but it is significant - contribution to this program. I am confident that the black spot funds are being used appropriately on locations with bad accident records and will realise significant benefits to the ACT community in reduced road trauma and expense. I think it should be pointed out that this year alone the ACT Government has spent some $30m on road maintenance and remedial works, along with road construction. Compared to the $800,000 that the Commonwealth is contributing under the black spots program, it is seen that the ACT Government itself is bearing the brunt of these remedial works.
Mr Speaker, I shall now table details of each project which has been approved for inclusion in the 1990-91 Commonwealth black spots program. The justification for each is clear and significant and the estimated benefits will be well in excess of those required by the Commonwealth for eligibility for funding by the black spots program.
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