MORE HARM THAN GOOD?
Member for Western Victoria Region, Bev McArthur has expressed concern as yet another driver becomes a victim of the Labor Government’s dangerous wire rope barriers.
A truck driver tragically died on the Princes Freeway in Werribee South this morning when he allegedly collided with a barrier and flipped his vehicle. Our thoughts at this time are with the driver’s family.
Quotes attributable to Bev McArthur MP:
“In May I submitted 10 questions on notice to the Minister for Roads, Road Safety and the TAC, to obtain quantifiable information that would justify the State Government’s considerable expenditure on wire rope barriers along the state’s highways.”
“The Minister’s response failed to address my question as to how much the Monash University Accident Research Centre was paid to produce the report which the Government now uses to statistically justify the implementation of the barriers.”
“The TAC’s claim that ‘Safety Barriers Save Lives’ and the Minister’s labeling of the barriers as ‘life-saving infrastructure’, are clearly questionable and probably misguided.”
“We are not only seeing a huge expense to the taxpayer, but also the tragic deaths of Victorians involving these barriers which could well be doing more harm than good.”
“The Government quotes expenditure of $557 million for construction of wire rope barriers and another $6.2 million for repairs, followed by a $1.7 million public education campaign to convince, rather than prove to, the public of their supposed effectiveness; others have suggested the expenditure is more like a billion dollars.”
“The barriers would not be needed if roadsides were clear spaces to the fence line. Vehicles running off roads would end up in a ditch or a fence, not a wire rope barrier. Steel barriers should be used, and are, for areas with steep drops, culverts or other major hazards.
“Continuous lines of wire also guarantee death on a large scale to our wildlife which has no escape route.”
“It appears that where there were wire rope barriers in the UK, they have now been replaced by cement barriers. In Europe, barriers were correctly used in the middle of highways to prevent head-on accidents, especially on icy roads.”
“I call on Minister Pulford, my fellow Member for Western Victoria Region, to join me in seeking an alternative safety measure that does not endanger more road users. Clearing roadside vegetation would be a start. After all, roadsides should be safe places not ‘wildlife corridors’ or ‘conservation zones’.”
4 November 2019