Parties neglect road safety
22 November 2007
The RAC has accused Labor and the Coalition of ignoring the safety of Western Australian motorists because one of the most dangerous sections of road in the State does not feature in either party's Auslink 2 road funding allocation.
Part of the Perth Bunbury Highway south of Dawesville to Lake Clifton and Binningup is rated as a 2 Star section of road under AusRAP, the Australian Road Assessment Program and is one of the worst sections of road in Australia.
There are two other 2 Star sections of road in Western Australia; on the Great Eastern Highway between Mundaring and Northam and on the Great Northern Highway between Muchea and Wubin - only the Coalition has pledged money to fix these.
RAC Executive Manager Member Advocacy said that given how important WA was shaping up to be in the Federal Election the RAC had been extremely disappointed with both parties funding commitments to the State especially on the dangerous sections of road.
"We have said all along that we don't get a fair share and nothing has changed in this election. Even though WA sets the economic pace and we have one of the worst road tolls our pleas for an increase in funding for WA appear to have fallen of deaf ears - we are still the forgotten State when it comes to road funding."
Mr Moir said the RAC had drawn up a list of priorities for road funding in the State at the outset of the campaign with the three sections of 2 star road at the top of the list.
"It is incomprehensible that some of these sections have been ignored. It is basic road safety strategy and fixing these sections of road will undoubtedly save lives in Western Australia," said Mr Moir.
Mr Moir said the RAC had been tracking each party's commitments to road funding over the past weeks and that while the Coalition had pledged marginally more than Labor, there wasn't much in it.
"In total the Coalition has pledged $1.7billion and Labor has committed $1.5billion but Labor will spend $200million more on the RAC's priority roads," he said.
"Labor has focused nearly half its spending on the metropolitan area with WA's ports also being a key target for them where as the Coalition has been more frugal in the metropolitan area but invested heavily in roads in regional WA."
Mr Moir said other commitments of note had come from the Labor party who had pledged to support the Keys2drive driver training program nationally and had said they would commit $100million a year to infrastructure from Gorgon and Pluto gas project royalties.
"This annual $100million commitment to WA infrastructure is encouraging but there are question marks over where the money will be spent and whether this will supersede any of WA's Auslink 2 funding.