WA's killer highways revealed

22 January 2008

The State's peak motoring body is calling on the State Government to give Western Australia's road infrastructure a major cash injection after it was revealed there are nearly 1,000km of sub-standard highways in WA.  

The RAC has identified the State's ten worst sections of highway, the majority of them in the south west. All of the roads have been rated with just 2 stars out of 5 according to the Australian Road Assessment Program (AusRAP).

The worst rated section of road was a 73km stretch of the South West Highway between Yornup, south of Bridgetown, to Shannon, south of Manjimup. The South West Highway (including the South Coast Highway) also had the most kilometres of two star road out of all the highways. 

The other most dangerous sections of road were identified as the Brookton Highway between Roleystone and Karragullen and the Bussell Highway between Cowaramup and Margaret River - one of the major tourist routes in the south west.

The RAC's Executive Manager of Member Advocacy David Moir said that since the RAC's 2006 report into WA highways the government had made some improvements to the State's highway infrastructure, but not nearly enough had been done.

"Motorists welcome the improvements that have been made to parts of the Great Southern, Great Eastern, South Western and Vasse Highways but there are still too many dangerous sections of highway in the State," he said.

"It is particularly worrying because many of these 2 star sections of highway are in the south west, which is one of the major tourist destinations in the State.

"We need the government to commit to a program to upgrade these sub-standard 2 star highways to an acceptable 4 or 5 star standard by 2012."

Mr Moir said it was widely acknowledged that improving roads and the immediate road environment was one of the most effective ways of saving lives.

"Our country road toll has been appalling in the last couple of years and a program of road improvements to make these 2 star roads should be an integral part of the strategy to fix road safety in the State.

"Motorists are less likely to be seriously injured or killed on a 3, 4 or 5 star highway than they are a 2 star highway."

Mr Moir said narrow roads, crumbling or gravel verges, poor lighting, faded markings and inadequate crash barriers were just some of the dangers presented by 2 star roads and that poor driving conditions significantly increase the risk of a serious accident.

Other dangers present on WA's worst roads include unsealed road shoulders - particularly on curves, poor signage and obscured vision due to roadside hazards, overgrown vegetation or bad road alignment.

"Many of the roads are closely lined with large trees, lack overtaking lanes and have poor quality roadsides. These factors can not only contribute to the cause of accidents, but can also increase their severity," said Mr Moir.

"Alarmingly, there are 2 star sections of roads on nearly every highway in the south west including the Albany, Brockman, Bussell, Great Southern, Muirs, Perth Bunbury and Vasse Highways as well as on the Brookton, Great Eastern and Great Northern Highways."

Mr Moir said the safety of road-users was paramount and the State Government's priority should be to fix the sub standard sections of 2 star roads to help reduce the growing road toll in WA.

The worst sections of highway in WA

*Improvements are scheduled for sections of Brookton and Muirs Hwy in 2008/09

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Download map - Ten worst sections of highway in WA