❓ Question regarding road safety for overseas drivers, particularly on tourist routes like Indian Ocean Drive. The Minister outlines existing measures and planned initiatives to educate overseas drivers about WA road conditions.
AnsweredQoN 850Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
ROAD SAFETY — OVERSEAS DRIVERS
850. Mr R.S. LOVE to the Minister for Road Safety:
In the wake of the continuing
serious traffic accidents on tourist routes such as Indian Ocean Drive, and
fears that overseas drivers unfamiliar with Western Australian road rules and
conditions may be contributing to the problem, will the minister adopt a comprehensive
program to assist overseas drivers to remain safe, including a program such as
New Zealand's visiting drivers project to educate overseas drivers
unaccustomed to Australian conditions?
850. Mr R.S. LOVE to the Minister for Road Safety:
In the wake of the continuing
serious traffic accidents on tourist routes such as Indian Ocean Drive, and
fears that overseas drivers unfamiliar with Western Australian road rules and
conditions may be contributing to the problem, will the minister adopt a comprehensive
program to assist overseas drivers to remain safe, including a program such as
New Zealand's visiting drivers project to educate overseas drivers
unaccustomed to Australian conditions?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for the
question. Road safety is a very important issue and safety on Indian Ocean
Drive has been an issue in recent years. Our government has invested a lot in
terms of that road. We put in extra passing lanes, we have widened the road in
various sections, we have improved intersections, we have installed audible
edge lining along the road and we have even had wider parts put into the middle
of the road. We have made that road as safe as we can and more work is still to
be done.
The member made the point about
foreign drivers. The fatal accident last week involved a driver and passengers
from China, and they do stand out in terms of the road toll. The sad fact is
that most of the fatalities on our country roads
involve people driving in their own postcode area or the neighbouring postcode
area. I repeatedly get feedback from people, particularly in country
areas, that city or metropolitan drivers need more instruction on how to drive
on country roads, and foreign tourists also need that. Both categories make up
the smaller percentage of fatalities. The biggest percentage of people killed
on country roads by far comes from the country. The strongest message that
needs to go out to people in the country is that they need to take more care in
terms of speeding, drink-driving and other unsafe behaviours.
The member has asked me about
foreign tourists in particular. This is not an area that the government has
been quiet on. Since the previous government lost office, we have taken up a couple
of new initiatives. One of those is the production of road safety booklets in
multiple languages including Chinese. They are made available through hire car
companies. In conjunction with the Minister for Tourism, we have arranged for a
road safety message about the long distances and the nature of driving in Western
Australia to be shown on a number of airlines coming here from Asian countries.
Garuda Indonesia and a number of other airlines have signed up to this as part
of an entry program. As people would be familiar from flying on planes, when
they arrive back in Perth something is now said about the city. If a person is
flying in from an Asian country, they will be shown a road safety message about
which side of the road to drive on and the distances involved and so forth. We
are trying to make people aware of road safety in that way.
Earlier this year, I met with Madam
Dong and we talked about a number of things including road safety. We are
looking to show that same video information on the flights from China as well.
China Southern Airlines and now maybe China Eastern Airlines can take it up as
well. I have also talked to the Minister for Tourism about this. These are very
sad occasions. We want people to be aware as they can, but anyone who has
driven in America or Europe would know that no matter how careful a person is
or how good a driver they are, sometimes, out of habit, a person can tend to look the wrong way. It is very sad for those
individuals involved and we will continue to do what we can to make sure
that foreign tourists are informed as best as they can be about the hazards on
Australian roads.
question. Road safety is a very important issue and safety on Indian Ocean
Drive has been an issue in recent years. Our government has invested a lot in
terms of that road. We put in extra passing lanes, we have widened the road in
various sections, we have improved intersections, we have installed audible
edge lining along the road and we have even had wider parts put into the middle
of the road. We have made that road as safe as we can and more work is still to
be done.
The member made the point about
foreign drivers. The fatal accident last week involved a driver and passengers
from China, and they do stand out in terms of the road toll. The sad fact is
that most of the fatalities on our country roads
involve people driving in their own postcode area or the neighbouring postcode
area. I repeatedly get feedback from people, particularly in country
areas, that city or metropolitan drivers need more instruction on how to drive
on country roads, and foreign tourists also need that. Both categories make up
the smaller percentage of fatalities. The biggest percentage of people killed
on country roads by far comes from the country. The strongest message that
needs to go out to people in the country is that they need to take more care in
terms of speeding, drink-driving and other unsafe behaviours.
The member has asked me about
foreign tourists in particular. This is not an area that the government has
been quiet on. Since the previous government lost office, we have taken up a couple
of new initiatives. One of those is the production of road safety booklets in
multiple languages including Chinese. They are made available through hire car
companies. In conjunction with the Minister for Tourism, we have arranged for a
road safety message about the long distances and the nature of driving in Western
Australia to be shown on a number of airlines coming here from Asian countries.
Garuda Indonesia and a number of other airlines have signed up to this as part
of an entry program. As people would be familiar from flying on planes, when
they arrive back in Perth something is now said about the city. If a person is
flying in from an Asian country, they will be shown a road safety message about
which side of the road to drive on and the distances involved and so forth. We
are trying to make people aware of road safety in that way.
Earlier this year, I met with Madam
Dong and we talked about a number of things including road safety. We are
looking to show that same video information on the flights from China as well.
China Southern Airlines and now maybe China Eastern Airlines can take it up as
well. I have also talked to the Minister for Tourism about this. These are very
sad occasions. We want people to be aware as they can, but anyone who has
driven in America or Europe would know that no matter how careful a person is
or how good a driver they are, sometimes, out of habit, a person can tend to look the wrong way. It is very sad for those
individuals involved and we will continue to do what we can to make sure
that foreign tourists are informed as best as they can be about the hazards on
Australian roads.
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