NRMA Motoring Blog

The road toll over the recent Christmas/New Year holiday period was one of Australia’s lowest in a decade. When the holiday period officially ended the toll was at 46, far below the 62 and 78 in the preceding years.

Victoria fared the worst with 17 deaths and WA recorded 11. There was a huge improvement in NSW where eight fatalities were recorded, compared to the 19 last year.

But, with the ideal road toll being zero, more can of course be done.

Heavy penalties apply to those caught drink driving, including immediate suspension of driver’s licence and potential jail terms.

Driver fatigue is a well known and heavily advertised factor of safety on long drives. The RTA provides driver reviver sites along major highways and uses billboards along these roads warning of the danger of driving more than 2 hours without a break.

Speeding is another factor that contributes to crashes. Again we have been told about the dangers of speeding whether it be by advertising, doubling demerit points, increasing the number of police patrols on the road and showing what the results of speeding can do to drivers and their families.

Given that the road toll has dropped, it could be assumed that advertising and public education campaigns, billboards and the increased penalties are working to make our roads safer.

However, lives are still being lost on our roads. What else can we do to reduce the number of crashes causing injury and death during the holiday period?

NRMA Motoring & Services’ President Alan Evans last week questioned the logic and safety of the proposed $7.5 million cycleway on Epping Road (SMH 14/01/08). Given that only a small number of cyclists use it, compared with the 35,000 cars each day, he said that motorists face severe congestion between Mowbray and Longueville Roads when Epping Road is converted to a singe lane of traffic, a bus lane and a cycleway.

Alan Evans states that the NRMA supports cyclists where it is safe but “imposing cycleways on major arterial roads and worsening traffic congestion in the process simply does not make sense.”

He believes that placing the cycleway next to a heavily congested arterial is not the best or safest option for Epping Road. The cycleway could create more congestion by constricting the width and number of traffic lanes. If there is a crash in the Lane Cove tunnel and traffic is diverted to the single lane on Epping Road, cars and buses could be queued back to the city.

Some of the NRMA’s suggestions forwarded to the RTA include converting the bus lane into a T2 lane to encourage car pooling and widening the traffic lanes.

Have your say about the planned cycleway for Epping Road.

Read the full article here