Page 544 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 21 February 2018
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Do not take my word for the veracity of the claims about how dangerous the intersection of Tillyard Drive and Ginninderra Drive is. Listen to some of my constituents and what they have been saying. In December 2014, just to indicate how long we have been dealing with this, a constituent said the intersection is:
… already recognised as one of the worst black spots in the ACT … long overdue for remediation and improvement to ensure that traffic flows safely and motorists do not take risks as they move through the intersection because of the delays experienced in many different directions throughout the day.
In April 2015 a constituent also wrote:
… last night there was another car crash happened on the corner of Tillyard Drive and Ginninderra Drive, Charnwood. This is a common area for accidents. I think it is probably the fifth accident in the last four months. I am not sure, but maybe this accident is more serious than others as all drivers were asked to do a U-turn 50 metres from the site. In earlier accidents, we were able to drive past it. I think it’s time to put some traffic lights at this intersection. I hope that there were no fatalities from last night’s accident, but let’s not wait for someone to die before putting traffic lights up. Please provide safety for drivers by installing lights at that intersection.
In June 2015 a radio listener, Murray, called 2CC and discussed the multiple accidents at the intersection and called for the installation of lights. In the same program a few days later the radio announcer, Mr Marcus Paul, mentioned that ACT Policing were saying that there was an accident at the intersection of Ginninderra Drive and Tillyard Drive and added that Mr Gentleman, the ACT minister for roads, had said the ACT government was looking at doing something there. Mr Paul made comments about whether or not there needed to be traffic lights.
But what we are hearing—and this has been going for a long time—is that the ACT government has been looking at doing something at Ginninderra Drive and, while there has been a lot of looking, there has not been very much action. There has been perhaps a lot of sitting in meetings and taking minutes and writing minutes and talking about it but nothing more. Meanwhile, the accidents continue.
On 8 June 2015 a cyclist and a motorcyclist collided at the intersection of Tillyard Drive and Ginninderra Drive. Luckily, both men suffered only minor injuries, but both had to be transported to hospital. The crash blocked the eastbound Ginninderra Drive traffic. On 25 November 2015 RiotACT and the Canberra Times reported that ACT Fire & Rescue and the ACT Ambulance Service attended two accidents at the intersection. It is fortunate that the Fire & Rescue station is so close to the intersection, because they get called out so often. Firefighters had to use hydraulic rescue tools to remove the roof of a car and extricate one male patient. Intensive care paramedics had to stabilise the patient before he was transported to hospital.
What has been the government’s response to these issues? One example came in response to a letter I wrote on 18 August 2016. A constituent wrote to me about this matter. When I wrote to the minister, I said:
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