Page 941 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 17 June 1992
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I feel that a more valuable return for effort would be achieved if a public education campaign were initiated which emphasised the courtesies involved in driving. The national campaign aimed at making drivers stop and rest is one example I would call upon to show where a public education effort can have an effect. It would be more beneficial to conduct a well informed and researched awareness campaign without introducing a law which would be difficult to police and very hard to prosecute.
There is another possible danger in introducing such a law, and that is that of increasing the speeds at which vehicles are driven on Canberra roads. I am sure that all members of the Assembly are aware of police blitzes in the past 12 months which have raised quite a lot of revenue in speeding fines. Not that this was the point of the exercise, but police admitted on each occasion that they were amazed that Canberra drivers would not accept the message that driving in excess of the speed limit was unacceptable. In fact, some drivers were booked more than once during a campaign. If we force most of the traffic into the left-hand lane we may be allowing speedsters to take over the right-hand lane.
I understand Mr Westende's point about European autobahns, but this is not Europe. Cars are not allowed to travel at speeds approaching jet take-off speeds, and we do not have any road in the ACT longer than 15 or so kilometres which is not interrupted at intervals of less than a kilometre for traffic entering or exiting. We also have to be thankful that we also do not have the horrendous crashes which involve large numbers of vehicles, and often result in multiple deaths. We do not want to increase the traffic on our roads and, if the price we pay to prevent this is a small degree of frustration when someone persists in driving more slowly than we want them to do in the right-hand lane, then so be it.
In conclusion I would like to read two excerpts from the New South Wales road rules. The first says:
You must not drive/ride in the right hand lane (except when overtaking or preparing to turn right) if the road has a speed limit of more than 80 kph, or if a keep left unless overtaking sign is displayed.
To emphasise my earlier point, Canberra has few roads where there would not be a defence to driving in the right-hand lane, as many have right-hand exits, and traffic in Canberra is highly mobile between lanes as people get into position for exits, to avoid merging traffic, and a host of other reasons. This rule, I would suggest, is designed for long roads with low traffic volumes and high speeds - a description which is increasingly not applicable to the ACT's roads.
The second excerpt from the New South Wales road rules, which to me seems a more sensible approach, and by the way is immediately before the excerpt just quoted, is also relevant here. It says:
When the road is divided into lanes you may usually drive in any lane to the left of centre. But it is sensible and safe practice to keep to the left lane unless you are overtaking. This applies particularly on roads where traffic moves fast. It is safer for the faster moving traffic to overtake on the right.
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