Page 942 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 17 June 1992
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As stated, this is a principle of safe driving, and the message at the heart of a safe driving campaign could help lessen the frustration some drivers feel at finding slower drivers in the right-hand lane. Canberra is an urban environment where the volume of traffic on our roads will increase, not decrease. While I appreciate that the motive of the amendment Bill before the Assembly is to improve traffic flow, I feel that it would have the opposite effect and that a campaign of education on road courtesy would be more effective.
MR HUMPHRIES (12.20): Madam Speaker, I am disappointed that the first part of this Bill is unlikely to succeed. I think it is unfortunate that there should be some view in the Assembly that a rule which does work perfectly well in other jurisdictions, notably in New South Wales, for some reason will not work in the ACT. The Minister made particular reference to the large number of expressways in New South Wales and Victoria which have three lanes and where a rule of this kind is natural and works well - in fact, he said that it did work well - and where you find very few turn-offs to the right which necessitate you moving into the right-hand lane to make a turn to the right. I have to say that we are talking about very few such roads in the ACT and, therefore, the impact of this is not very great. I would have viewed it very much as an experiment in many ways to see whether such a thing which works in other States would work in the ACT. I can see no reason why it would not.
It seems to me that the number of turn-offs to the right is very limited. I can think of only one, and even that does not apply in the 100 kilometres per hour zone. I would be grateful if the Minister, if he is going to speak again on this matter, could indicate any point where there is a turn-off to the right on any motorway in the ACT where the speed limit is 100 kilometres per hour. I cannot think of any. Certainly, as one goes around Black Mountain beside the lake and turns off to go up to Belconnen, there is a turn-off there; but at that point the speed limit is only 80 kilometres an hour. Similarly, near the Mugga Lane tip, there is also a turn-off to the right from that road; but, again, the limit at that point is 80 kilometres per hour. So I do not know where the objection the Minister has raised would actually apply.
I also want to make it quite clear for Ms Szuty's benefit that this amendment is dealing only with roads where the speed limit is in excess of 80 kilometres per hour. I have not been on Yamba Drive for the last few days, but I am sure the limit is not beyond 80 kilometres per hour there. It therefore would not apply there. We are talking about particular sorts of roads in the ACT where there are, invariably, dual carriageways - well, quite often dual carriageways - where there are at least two lanes in each direction, and where a rule of this kind would work extremely well, in my humble opinion.
I want to remind the Minister that sometimes slow traffic can actually cause accidents. Not only is it the case that fast traffic causes accidents, which is certainly true, but sometimes slow traffic can cause accidents. I have seen many occasions when travelling along the Tuggeranong Parkway, as I do every morning, where people irritated with people travelling in the right-hand lane do press up very close to those people, and I have no doubt at all that that is often the cause of accidents which occur on that road.
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