Wednesday, 19 June 2024

Economy and Infrastructure Committee

Inquiry into the Impact of Road Safety Behaviours on Vulnerable Road Users

Ella GEORGE (Lara) (11:14): It is a pleasure to speak on the recent Economy and Infrastructure Committee’s report into the impact of road safety behaviours on vulnerable road users. I would like to thank the committee and the chair, the member for Bellarine, for their important work in investigating how the Victorian government can make our roads safer for everyone, including vulnerable road users. As the Allan Labor government works towards achieving the Victorian Road Safety Strategy 2021–2030 goal of zero deaths by 2050 on Victorian roads, this committee report helps inform how we can ensure Victorians can be safer on and around our roads.

Importantly, the committee investigated how road safety behaviours changed during and after the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent impact of these behavioural changes on road users. I understand the committee received 302 submissions, which certainly demonstrates the community’s deep interest in this important issue. Any death on a Victorian road is one too many. However, we know that vulnerable road users – such as pedestrians, children under seven, older people and mobility device users, bike riders and motorcyclists – are over-represented in deaths and injuries from traffic collisions. Many of us will know someone who has been injured or impacted by a significant traffic collision. I have had many friends come off their bikes in serious accidents, and my little cousin was recently seriously injured in an accident with a car when he was on his bike. In 2023 vulnerable road users made up 36 per cent of lives lost on Victorian roads, and in 2022 they represented almost half. One of the main findings of the report was that safety outcomes for vulnerable road users are not improving. To that end, one of the committee’s priority recommendations is placing a greater emphasis on the safety of vulnerable road users in future road and urban infrastructure design and strategies, which will seek to address this concerning finding.

Sadly, there are many road accidents in the electorate of Lara, and the Corio SES unit, who are often the first responders, are one of the busiest SES units in the state. I take this opportunity to acknowledge the Corio SES unit and its many volunteers and acknowledge their important work in responding to road accidents right across the state.

Road safety is something that I hear about on a regular basis from constituents and local businesses, and one road that I have heard a lot about when it comes to safety is Thompson Road, a key arterial road that spans three suburbs: Norlane, Bell Park and North Geelong. It is 5 kilometres long and is used by approximately 16,000 vehicles a day. In the five years from July 2014 to December 2019 there were 70 crashes along Thompson Road between Victoria Street and Cox Road, including five fatal crashes in which six people, sadly, lost their lives, and 24 serious injury crashes. In some great news, works are due to start in mid-July along Thompson Road with a $4.6 million investment from the state and Commonwealth governments into improving road user safety. Amongst other things, this project will see the installation of multiple pedestrian refuge islands, making it safer for vulnerable road users who cross this busy road. These changes to Thompson Road will ensure that vulnerable road users, like pedestrians, are safer when travelling, and it is investments like this that really speak to the findings and recommendations of this report.

Additionally, recommendation 27 of the committee’s report recommends reviewing the location of pedestrian crossings on arterial roads to ensure that there are regular crossings linked to public transport stops, activity centres and schools. This recommendation aims to reflect the concerns around the safety of families and students who often walk or ride to school and who are vulnerable road users. I regularly hear from parents, teachers and students across the Lara electorate about their concerns with road safety near schools, and one school of particular concern is Lara Lake Primary School, which is on Forest Road, the main road leading from the Princes Freeway into the township of Lara. As you would expect, it is an incredibly busy road. But thanks to the advocacy of the school community and neighbours who live in the area and investment from this government, the lights are now on at the new pedestrian crossing out the front of Lara Lake Primary School.

The committee report outlines that there is a lot of work to do in this space to improve the safety of vulnerable road users. However, I am pleased to see that there are already many infrastructure upgrade projects across the state, including in the electorate of Lara, that look to address these issues. We can always do more, and that is exactly what the recommendations of this report set out to achieve. Once again I would like to thank the committee and the chair for their work on this report and the community who contributed to the report, and a big thankyou to all those who are working to make sure all Victorians are safe on our roads all year round.