Following the RTA’s decision to drop the speed limit on the Newell Highway from 110 to 100 kilometres per hour, Member for Barwon Kevin Humphries, has sought detailed information from the Ministry of Transport to see what facts instigated the change.
“I wanted to know in what zones the most fatalities occurred, and in what context.”
“This issue has generated enormous comment and enquiries through my office, and it seems very few are happy with the lowering of the speed limit.”
“Given that 80 per cent of this 1000 kilometre highway was a 110km/h zone, one would expect it to have the most accidents.”
Mr Humphries said what was clear from the findings was the high number of fatalities involving heavy vehicles and multiple cars, and believed many of these accidents were attributed to overtaking, not speed.
“Let’s be clear, we are all concerned about road safety and one life lost is one too many.
“The main cause of fatalities, I believe, is a gross lack of infrastructure; a lack of overtaking lanes on Australia’s highest volume road freight highway is example number one.
Chairman of the Newell Highway Taskforce, Parkes mayor Ken Keith, supported maintaining the 110 kilometre speed limit which was the stance also taken by president Wendy Machin, as they saw a reduction in the speed limit could lead to queues of trucks and cars impatiently waiting to overtake.
Mr Humphries said the NSW State Labor Government’s response to indications that road freight travel on the Newell Highway was set to double in the next 10 years, were “lousy” at best.
“This is a staggering increase, yet all we get for the next three years is $30 million and not one new overtaking lane.”
“Currently the NSW Labor Government has spent $270 million on the Sydney metro, with not a sod turned, and $100 million on the failed T Card project - say no more.”
Mr Humphries said dropping the speed limit was more about the Government being seen to be doing something in the name of safety, when what was really needed was resource and expanded infrastructure.
The Nationals in Coalition with the Liberals in Government have committed to restoring the 110kilometre per hour zones as of March 2011 and building overtaking lanes every 10 kilometres over a 10-year period.
The controversy of the Newell Highway is clearly still topical, as Mr Humphries quest for information from the Ministry of Transport comes only weeks after NRMA director Graham Blight said he was
disappointed with Minister Campbell’s response to the Newell Highway petition,
as it did not provide any clear reason why the RTA did not consult with the community, trucking industry and road users before
the decision was made to drop the speed limit.
Mr Humphries has urged the public to “maintain the rage” on this issue.
Email a friend
Favourites
Del.icio.us
Facebook
Digg
StumbleUpon
MySpace
Reddit
Newsvine
LinkedIn
Kwoff
Twitter