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Key roads in the state’s South East and Murraylands will receive a safety check-up this week, as part of RAA’s annual Regional Roadshow initiative.
RAA is hitting the road in force over the next four days to hear from the local community at a series of events for loyal members at Mt Gambier, Kingston and Murray Bridge, and the organisation’s road safety experts are also making the trip to take a closer look at the local road network.
RAA Senior Manager Safety and Infrastructure Charles Mountain said his team would be checking to see how certain upgrades have progressed on the network and what still needs to be addressed since they were last in the region.
“Our last Regional Road Assessment in the state’s South East was completed in 2019, so it’s timely for us to make a return trip to see what improvements have been made to the road network since then,” Mr Mountain said.
“Our 2019 investigation covered 3,500km of road and proposed upgrades to corridors such as Riddoch Highway, Dukes Highway, Princes Highway and Southern Ports Highway – and we know that some of these upgrades have been completed in the years since.
“This week we’ll be following up to see what further maintenance and upgrades are required, and speaking with local stakeholders and councils to hear their thoughts as well.”
RAA’s experts will also be looking at key corridors in the Murraylands region, which recently had a full road assessment completed in May 2022.
Mr Mountain said the purpose of RAA’s road investigations was to inform its advocacy priorities, and ultimately reduce road trauma in South Australia.
“The ‘Safe Systems’ approach to road safety has four pillars: safer roads, safer vehicles, safer drivers and safer speeds,” Mr Mountain said.
“Our focus on the ‘safer roads’ pillar is to advocate for improvements to the road network so that it doesn’t increase the likelihood and severity of any crash.
“For example, the progressive duplication of Dukes Highway is one of our key priorities for the region, and we will continue to advocate for this to be funded.
“In the lead-up to the state budget we also called for $750m over four years to address South Australia’s growing backlog of road maintenance projects and improve safety.
“Following this week’s assessment, we look forward to presenting our findings to the community in the form of a road network ‘scorecard’ for both the South East and Murraylands regions.”
So far this year 59 people have lost their lives on SA roads (35 of which have been in regional areas) compared with just 71 for the whole of 2022.
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