Page 2702 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 26 September 2007
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and subsidised by the ACT Stanhope Labor government. Again, this shows the government’s support for driver education courses.
The ACT also has a number of engineering programs to manage and improve the ACT road system, including road works, regulatory and information signage and traffic signals. In 2005-06, funding allocated to road safety improvements was a total of $550,000 under a number of programs. Funding is also provided by the Australian government for the federal black spot program, with between $455,000 and $602,000 being provided annually since 1996-97. I should also mention the importance of other government initiatives, including the engagement by the government, through the Road Transport Authority, with members of the community throughout their driving careers.
Mr Speaker, in general, we work with the community, but we also work closely with organisations such as the NRMA-ACT Road Safety Trust, providing ongoing support. In fact, yesterday I had the great pleasure of launching the trust’s postgraduate scholarships showcase event, which exhibited the work of leading road safety researchers. These six projects, funded by the NRMA-ACT Road Safety Trust scholarships, are producing innovative road safety research, and I look forward to seeing the final results in the near future. One of them was on the thinking of young drivers, and this will provide more academic analysis. They are also doing research, which is being analysed, into random drug testing for prescription drugs, not illegal drugs. In fact, there are probably—probably, and we want academic stuff to prove this—more accidents caused by people on over-the-counter or prescription drugs containing things like pseudoephedrine.
I applaud Mr Gentleman for bringing this motion forward. We have a whole range of road safety measures; we have a whole range of road safety initiatives. All I can see from those opposite is a whingefest—just a total whingefest. Those folks over there are not qualified actually to comment, I believe. Mr Gentleman, on the other hand, has actually been a professional rally driver. He also is a motorcycle rider, well-known to the Motorcycle Riders Association, well-known in the community, and I am happy to take his advice.
MR GENTLEMAN (Brindabella) (3.41), in reply: I thank members for their contribution to this motion today and I thank Dr Foskey and the government for their support. Firstly, I must address many of the inaccuracies in Mr Pratt’s rant against young drivers today. Mr Pratt has said that I have ignored anecdotal evidence of community concern. But was he not listening? The first nine minutes of my speech were devoted to community concern. Secondly, I have recognised that young drivers do play a role in the number of accidents in the ACT. I am certainly not saying that the successful programs in place today are enough. We should strive to improve even further across the board on road safety in the ACT.
What I am trying to point out to Mr Pratt and the rest of the opposition is that there are others on the road as well—those who contribute to 70 per cent of accidents on our roads. Accidents, casualties and deaths on ACT roads among the young are decreasing, and I have quoted the statistics and the reports. Even after I asked Mr Pratt to provide evidence that accidents involving young drivers in the ACT are on the increase, he could not provide the evidence.
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