The SE Freeway descent is another disaster waiting to happen. Here’s what can be done to fix it

As it is, the South East Freeway descent is another disaster waiting to happen. It needs to be safer – and here is what can be done to fix it.

It would be a rare South Australian who hasn’t at some point travelled through the intersection of Portrush, Glen Osmond and Cross roads and the bottom of the South Eastern Freeway.

It would also be a rare South Australian who hasn’t sat at the lights on the down slope of the freeway, waiting for the green, and contemplated for a moment the worst case scenario: That as you sit in your family car, somewhere behind you a truck driver has lost control and is heading towards you at serious speed.

It’s not a spurious fear. It’s a fear grounded in historic reality.

That fear exacerbated on Sunday. That no one died when a truck collided with seven cars and a bus was extraordinary. When the truck was on its side, crumpled cars scattered around the intersection and the flashing lights of ambulances, police and fire trucks illuminating a dull, wet Sunday afternoon, death seemed inevitable.

Now the conversation has started again about what we do to stop such accidents happening again. Because we know that it’s inevitable.

Cars waiting at the lights at the bottom of the South Eastern Freeway, at the intersection of Portrush, Glen Osmond and Cross roads.

More than 50,000 vehicles a day travel up and down the 7.5km between that intersection and Crafers. Around 10 per cent of them are commercial vehicles, which includes buses and large articulated trucks.

Since the accident in 2014 when two people were killed after a runaway truck reached a speed of 151km/h, a variety of safety improvements were instituted. These included lowered speed limits, upgraded signage and increased penalties for speeding truck drivers. But it’s still not enough.

Which leaves the question: If we accept that an outright ban on heavy vehicles is impractical, what more can be done to improve safety on the SE Freeway?

In percentage terms, the number of trucks causing accidents is minuscule, but it only takes one brake failure, one moment of inattention, or one truck not being maintained as well as it should to bring the carnage back.

ARRESTER BED

Organisations such as the SA Road Transport Association and the RAA have made several suggestions during recent years. Both acknowledge that while it will be a technically difficult job, a third arrester bed near the bottom of the freeway is desirable.

In a report it released in 2020, the RAA investigated six potential options for a third arrester bed, with costs ranging from $7m to $44m. The sixth option was near the old Toll Gate, a location it said was “possible’’ but also pointed out “the risk of a collision with the rear of the traffic queue under normal traffic conditions is also far higher in this location’’.

Sunday’s accident at the Freeway near the Toll gate. Picture: Keryn Stevens

TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT

SARTA chief Steve Shearer also acknowledges the difficulty with this spot but believes it is manageable with a more sophisticated approach to traffic management. The freeway has plenty of cameras and monitoring devices which are watched by the government’s Traffic Management Centre. Shearer believes a “big red button’’ could be hit that would take over control of all the lights and clear away all traffic through the intersection allowing any dangerous truck to use that lower arrester bed. Both the RAA and SARTA plan to bring this idea up again with Transport Minister Tom Koutsantonis.

But there are other options as well to improve safety. It can’t all rely on the installation of one more arrester bed.

RE-ROUTING FREIGHT

Shearer says the industry is open to developing a new corridor that would take a high percentage of trucks off the SE Freeway. He notes that it won’t be possible to divert all trucks as 40 per cent of those that use the freeway originate in the Adelaide Hills.

It’s an idea that has been raised before but a new freight route would mean trucks turning off near Tailem Bend and cutting through to Annadale on the Sturt Highway between Blanchetown and Truro, and heading into Adelaide from there.

To do that will mean significant upgrades to local roads to carry higher volumes of trucks. Shearer says that route would add about 115km to the journey, but if the roads were upgraded and trucks could drive at continual speed in higher gears then it could be done. He estimates it could take two-thirds of interstate trucks off the SE Freeway.

DRIVER TRAINING

Shearer is also pushing for drivers to be better trained. He says anecdotal evidence suggests most of the accidents on the SE Freeway involve interstate drivers on their first trip to Adelaide.

While we don’t yet know the full details of Sunday’s crash, it did involve an interstate driver. Shearer says Adelaide is only one of three places in the country where there is such a long descent.

He says it is why SARTA, with government help, has bought a $500,000 heavy vehicle simulator to try to give drivers that extra bit of knowledge if they haven’t driven to Adelaide before.

“The issue is for a driver who gets it wrong is that there’s no real relief and gravity has got you for the next 8km and it can it can surprise a new driver,’’ he says.

Many of these ideas have been floated before. But now it’s time for the state and federal government to find solutions, rather than just put them in the too-hard basket.

Otherwise these accidents will continue to happen and next time someone could be killed.