TARGETING THE SPEED LIMIT

A motorist’s perspective

Matt BrownHead of Member Advocacy

RAC regularly surveys its members on a range of motoring and road safety issues.

• Almost 8 out of ten motorists list unsafe drivers on our roads as a key concern

• Almost 6 out of ten motorists rate WA drivers as the worst in Australia

• 83 per cent of motorists say they see people driving in a unsafe manner every day

• 98 per cent say they see people driving in an unsafe manner more than once a week.

But it’s them…. Not me!

• Seven out of 10 motorist confess to knowingly exceeding the speed limit

• More than five out of ten confess to talking on a mobile phone while driving

• Four out of ten confess to sending and receiving text messages

• One in ten confess to knowingly driving while under the influence.

• More than one in four car fatalities in 2008 involved people not wearing seatbelts.

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While speed and red light camera revenue goes up….

• 09/10 - $42.6M

• 10/11 – $95.4M

• 11/12 – $115.5M

• 12/13 - $116.1M

(Source: 2009/10 State Budget Paper No. 2, Volume 1)

Spending on roads goes down…..

• Funding for Road Safety programs administered by the Commissioner for Main Roads fell from $173.3million in 08/09 to $117.4million in 09/10.

• The Budget papers indicate a further significant cut to $38.8million in 10/11.

• Total allocation to construction and maintenance for 09/10 was $1.37B, down from $1.4B last year.

• $35M Safer Roads program not funded beyond this year• Support for the Implementation of the State’s Road Safety

Initiatives” cut from $27.6m in 09/10 to just $14m in 10/11

(Source: 09/10 State Budget Paper No 2, Volume 2)

And then there’s the Federal government…..

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RAC position on speed limits

• The RAC supports the targeted reduction of speed limits in areas of high traffic density or high pedestrian traffic (shopping centres, etc)

• The RAC supports the targeted reduction of speed limits to address specific speed-related road safety problems which cannot be immediately addressed by infrastructure improvements

• Speed limit reductions should not be used by government to avoid responsibility for upgrading the safety of our roads

• Road authorities should regularly review speed limits to ensure they are appropriate, credible and consistent and that the rationale behind our speed limit system is understood by the community