Wednesday, 28 August 2024

Legislative Assembly Economy and Infrastructure Committee

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

Alison MARCHANT (Bellarine) (10:28): I rise to speak on the Economy and Infrastructure Committee’s inquiry into the impact of road safety behaviours on vulnerable road users. This report, which was tabled in May, particularly looks at road safety behaviours during and post the pandemic. I would like to put this on record because I have not had the opportunity to do so yet: I would like to thank the team that support the committee – the secretariat, Kerryn Riseley, researcher Dr Marianna Stylianou, Alyssa Topy and Adeel Siddiqi – for all their work. That team does an incredible job to support me as the chair and the committee members as well. They do a powerful amount of work behind the scenes, so I would like to thank them.

With over 300 submissions and six public hearings, we did have some disturbing evidence to the committee. The committee learned that many Victorians now feel that behaviours, particularly of drivers and road users, have become disturbingly risky. They are more impatient and they are aggressive, inattentive and reckless on our roads. I drive a lot around the Bellarine, and I see it myself. Shockingly we also had evidence from the police that drivers engage in more risky behaviours, such as speeding and driving under the influence. The rise of people not wearing a seatbelt is incredibly disturbing as well, as is the prevalent use of devices in the car. One of the submissions that was presented to the committee said that mobile phone usage was so bad that many drivers have nearly rear-ended another driver because they were focused on their phone, one person saying that driving a car is no longer about that main task but that the car has become an office, with rampant mobile use and texting.

The final report has 56 recommendations, and we know we need to do everything we can to work towards the Victorian road safety strategy of zero deaths by 2050. We have seen some tragic accidents ‍– fatalities more recently – involving pedestrians, and I certainly take this opportunity to give my condolences to families and communities affected. There are too many lives being lost, and it is so, so sad.

In this report we also urge the government to adopt a hierarchy system where those who can do the most harm to others have a duty of care to reduce the danger that they pose to our most vulnerable. At the top of that list are our pedestrians, which could be children or our senior Victorians, and cyclists and horse riders. In the middle of the hierarchy are our car drivers and then vans and small trucks, and at the bottom are our large trucks and buses. In doing this we would have to change our attitudes and societal norms in an education campaign.

Road policing assistant commissioner Glenn Weir also presented to the committee. He gave some really strong evidence of what police are seeing. He has recently said, though, that if we continue on the trend that we have seen recently, we are going to exceed last year’s 296 fatalities, and that is going to be the worst in 15 years. We need everyone on board, and that includes community, to help us, otherwise we are going to see more families suffer. This obviously goes to our recommendation with that hierarchy system where everyone has a responsibility.

One of the other recommendations was to review the location of pedestrian crossings on arterial roads to ensure that there are regular crossings to link to public transport stops and activity centres such as schools. I am pleased that within the Bellarine electorate we will have some additional wombat crossings installed at two very busy roundabouts – one in Ocean Grove near Grubb Road and the other at a Barwon Heads roundabout near Golf Links Road. These are really busy roundabouts, particularly for students who are catching buses to school or getting to sporting precincts.

Many constituents who have raised this with me but also who made submissions to the committee noted that particularly pedestrians and cyclists feel safer when they have that dedicated infrastructure. I know, being from a regional area, not all of my suburbs have footpaths. Not all of my suburbs have dedicated cycling lanes. This is something we need to look at. This is going to be a collective responsibility for everyone. As a community we cannot accept the trend that we are seeing. I thank the committee for their work and look forward to the government’s response.