Page 5338 - Week 14 - Thursday, 19 November 2009
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our car, onto our motorbike or onto our bicycle—indeed, when we walk the streets of this city.
It is a stunning death toll that since 1 January 2004, 88 people have died on the ACT’s roads: 88 people have died in Canberra since 1 January 2004. In that time, it is probably fair to suggest that somewhere in the order of 4,000 Canberrans have suffered injury in road crashes. Of those 4,000, some have suffered injuries of a most debilitating, life-changing and traumatic nature, including quadriplegia, paraplegia, significant brain injury and other injuries that have devastated their capacity to live the lives that they would be living had they not been involved in the crash.
This is a serious issue, a major issue. At one level it is an intractable issue. But, as with all issues, there are ways forward: some of them around the application of the law; some of them around engineering, as Ms Bresnan has commented; and some of them around the mode of transport which we individually choose or employ.
We do need to deal with the realities; we do need to change behaviour; we do need to enhance our engineering; we do need to have better enforcement regimes. But at its heart, this is a problem that requires the acceptance of individual responsibility, most particularly by those of us that drive motor vehicles. There is a need for each of us to be aware of the consequences of not paying attention, of breaching the rules or of driving in a dangerous and unacceptable way.
It is a most important issue. I am thankful that Ms Bresnan nominated it as a matter of public importance. It certainly is and it deserves the attention of the Assembly.
MR COE (Ginninderra) (3.28): I too am very pleased that Ms Bresnan has nominated this as the MPI for today. It gives me and other members an opportunity to reflect on what is an important issue and also to commend a number of organisations and a number of people doing great work in this space.
Going on from what the Chief Minister said, 88 people are dying—avoidably, really—on ACT roads. There are many reasons why accidents occur, but many of those reasons are avoidable. It would be a great shame if that number was to increase, especially at an increasing rate. If you were to graph that, I imagine that it would be a bit like an asymptote: you keep getting closer and closer to zero but you may not actually ever get to zero. All the same, it is certainly worth investigating, and it is worth doing all we can to make our roads safer for all to use and, hopefully, more efficient.
The first organisation that I will talk about which I believe are doing some very active work in the community are Pedal Power. Pedal Power and I have had a somewhat—
Mr Hanson: Robust?
MR COE: robust relationship on one or two issues, I think it is fair to say, but we have always had a very constructive relationship. It has always been one with good dialogue and I very much appreciate the feedback that they have given me on different things that I have said, different things that they would like me to say and different ways that Canberra people might be able to support cycling in Canberra.
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