Of all the proposed solutions to address the poor condition of rural roads, the standout just might be one proposed by the Federal government recently: just cut speed limits.
Federal Minister Catherine King, Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, Mr Littleproud claims, has suggested reducing speed limits on dirt, gravel or sealed roads in need or repair, in response to the worsening road toll in Maranoa and around the country.
Mr Littleproud says this “solution” will act to halt regional productivity and not solve the root of the problem which is cuts to road funding. SDRC Mayor Melissa Hamilton fully agrees.
“Across Maranoa poor road conditions remain one of the most prominent issues that locals
are facing, with plenty of roads in desperate need of repair,” Mr Littleproud said.
“Local councils and shires would love to upgrade their roads to a safe standard, but they
simply can’t get all the necessary work done due to a lack of resources.
“The solution to help make our rural roads safer is to maintain and upgrade the roads
themselves, not to slow down regional productivity.”
Mayor Hamilton says regional roads carry the “food and fibre that feed our nation, stock our
supermarkets and drive our exports. Every day, trucks loaded with grain, livestock and produce travel thousands of kilometres from farms and regional centres to ports and processing hubs. But too many of these roads are crumbling with the weight of that responsibility.”
Local councils are simply overburdened with the requirement to keep thousands and thousands of kilometres of heavily used regional roads in good condition with very little funding.
“Right now, councils are being asked to maintain vast road networks with shrinking budgets and growing expectations. That’s not sustainable. If we want to keep shelves stocked, exports flowing and regional communities thriving, we need serious investment and we need it now. Restoring federal grants to local councils to just 1% of total tax revenue - the same level we saw in the 1970s - would be the first step in getting the funding right to address our road networks. This is about economic resilience, national productivity and regional equity. It’s time for the federal government to step up and put regional roads back on the map.”
Interestingly, an internet search could find not locate the original statement purportedly made by MP Catherine King and the Town & Country Journal contacted her office to confirm.
However, it appears that the core issue for limiting speed limits on rural and regional roads is purely one of avoiding injuries and fatalities. According to the federal infrastructure website page entitled Regulatory Impact Analysis to reduce the open road default speed limit, the risk of being killed on a regional or remote road is 11 times higher compared to a road in a major city.
“Reducing the number of people killed and injured…is a priority for all governments….speed is a major factor in serious and fatal traffic crashes.”
The proposal is to analyse the reduction of speed limits in these areas which “could lead to changes to the Australian road rules”. Currently, the Australian Road Rules do not specify a default speed limit for unsealed roads. Yet many regional roads “may not be safe to travel on at 100km/h”.
“Travelling at up to 100 km/h on roads such as these may not be safe and will increase the risk of crashes, death and serious injuries.”
Mr Littleproud hopes that transport operators and councils made submissions to the federal government’s consultation about the issue and that the result is better roads, not lower speed limits.
“Regional Australia’s economy is on the line here. Government has an obligation to protect the lives of every Australian , so they should get on with it and fund rural roads.”
