Greater investment in South Australia’s road network will make our roads safer.
Duplicating our national highways
RAA would like to see the Augusta, Sturt and Dukes Highways duplicated by 2050 – to improve safety and freight productivity.
The State and Federal Governments should allocate at least $200 million each year to ensure these highways are duplicated within this timeframe.
High priority sections for RAA include Port Pirie to Crystal Brook along the Augusta Highway, Tailem Bend to the Mallee Highway for the Dukes Highway, and Berri to Renmark and Greenock to Truro for the Sturt Highway.
Maintaining our roads
South Australia has an estimated road maintenance backlog of $2bn which is increasing year on year – amounting to more than 2,100km of our sealed road network.
RAA is calling on the Government to increase its road maintenance budget from an estimated $160 million to $250 million to help get on top of the problem.
RAA also believes the Government needs to improve the transparency of road maintenance spending by publishing actual spending on road maintenance in the state budget papers and reporting on road safety improvements by releasing information relating to the star ratings of roads.
Creating a safer South Eastern Freeway
The South Eastern Freeway has been the site of several heavy vehicle crashes of varying severity, some even sadly resulting in loss of life and serious injury.
The need for a third safety ramp has been long identified as a measure to reduce the likelihood of out-of-control heavy vehicle crashes at the base of the South Eastern Freeway.
RAA would like to see the Government commit $40 million in funding to build the new safety ramp.
Reporting of road safety statistics
RAA believes data transparency, coupled with the pursuit of nationally consistent data reporting, is crucial in our collective efforts to reduce road trauma.
Currently, the data needed to make sense of the worsening road toll is being collected, but it’s not always released.
Critical information not being released or released in a timely fashion includes:
Causes of crashes, such as driver behaviour (speeding, distraction and fatigue)
Condition of the vehicle (roadworthiness, ANCAP star rating)
Condition of the road (AusRAP star rating).
We also support nationally consistent reporting of road safety statistics, with the Commonwealth to take a lead role in the development, monitoring and reporting process.
Publishing and improving star ratings of our roads
RAA believes the SA Government should release star ratings of all roads mapped to provide a better understanding of the condition of the road network and improve transparency and prioritisation of road funding decisions.
The last time AusRAP ratings were released publicly was in 2013 and it showed that SA had one of Australia’s lowest proportions of 4-star roads, and one of the highest of 1-star roads.
Star ratings should be made public and adopted by the State Government as a key performance indicator for road safety strategies and action plans, including a target of achieving 3-star ratings or better for 80% of travel on state roads.
New and upgraded roads should be built to a minimum 3-star safety rating for light vehicles, and more road maintenance funding used to improve star ratings.
Metro speed limits
RAA supports a general urban speed limit of 50km/h in built-up areas, speed limits above 50km/h on appropriate arterial roads that are heavily trafficked and below 50km/h in areas with high pedestrian activity and vulnerable road users.
RAA supports identifying these locations considering a lower speed limit on a case-by-case basis, with road modifications to help drivers comply.
Residential streets should have appropriate speed limits and traffic calming devices, with speed reductions based on traffic management measures rather than simply posting lower limits.
With respect to footpaths, all users, including cyclists, motorised mobility device users and personal mobility device users should keep their speed below 10km/h.
Rural speed limits
RAA supports the default open road speed limit of 100km/h on rural roads unless the road meets standards for a 110km/h limit, particularly on higher standard divided rural roads and roads forming part of the National Highway network.
Road and infrastructure investment should prioritise roads carrying the highest traffic volumes, providing key state connections and with low high crash risks.
RAA does not support reducing speed limits from 110km/h to 100km/h on key rural routes that meet safety standards.
Rather, roads not meeting these standards should be upgraded to maintain the 110 km/h limit. For rural roads with a crash history and low AusRAP star rating, a lower speed limit should be considered when upgrades are not feasible, with community support essential.
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