Thursday, 1 June 2023

Wire rope barriers

Trung LUU (Western Metropolitan) (16:07): (282) My matter is directed to the Minister for Roads and Road Safety. The action I seek is for the government to stop installing wire rope barriers on roads and highways and realise the ineffectiveness of wire rope barriers. Between 2015 and now – 2023 – hundreds of kilometres of wire rope barriers have been installed on Victoria’s roads at a massive cost. VicRoads has indicated that since 2015 $4 billion has been spent on wire rope barriers in Victoria. Apart from this being an outrageous expense, funds for rural roads have been diverted to cover the wire rope barriers project, making them the most expensive barriers ever installed, and for a working life of only 20 years – one-quarter of the life span of concrete barriers.

The effectiveness of wire rope barriers is also in question, with accidents and crashes resulting in serious injuries and deaths. Wire rope barriers’ flexibility causes direct crashes to bounce off the barriers, throwing vehicles and motorcycles back into oncoming traffic. Wire rope barriers rarely perform as the government and its department VicRoads have indicated. The reality is that wire rope barriers kill motorcyclists. Minister, the wire rope barriers have contributed to motorcycle fatalities. Data from the TAC and VicRoads shows a steady increase in fatalities since 2010.

Again and again what we see is the community calling for the removal of wire rope barriers in order to reduce injuries and fatalities resulting from crashes and accidents involving the wire rope barriers. The road authority knows this. This is the reason for the installation of pole covers and pads on wire rope barrier poles. Wire rope barriers are most expensive and are not doing the job it is claimed they do. Minister, I ask you to stop the installation of wire rope barriers and conduct a review of the effectiveness of wire rope barriers.