Dangerous South Australian road crash sites ignored by Federal Black Spot Program

ABOUT 30 South Australians have been injured at four of the state’s most dangerous traffic crash spots since plans to fix them were knocked back. So why does SA have the highest rate of projects rejected under the Federal Black Spot Program?

• SA’s 20 worst metropolitan and country crash sites revealed
• State Government announces $39m to fix worst black spots
• What are the most dangerous intersections in SA?

MORE than two dozen South Australians have been injured at four of the state’s most dangerous traffic hot spots after plans to fix the notorious crash sites were knocked back.

Road safety advocates have blasted the “frustratingly small” funding bucket provided under the Federal Black Spot Program as “lip service funding” and called for an immediate cash injection.

At least 20 crashes occurred at four locations which the RAA ranked in its top 20 metropolitan and rural crash hot spots.

The crashes, which injured about 30 people, happened after projects to improve the safety at these sites were refused funding under the Federal Black Spot Program.

Itcan also be revealed SA has the highest rate of projects rejected under the program — about three-quarters — despite $3 million allocated to the state being left in the kitty over the past three years.

The Advertiser compared information on projects nominated for black spot funding to RAA crash data to identify the following sites of contention:

NEWTON Rd and Gorge Rd intersection was the site of nine crashes in 2015 and 2016. An upgrade was knocked back in 2015 because the nomination missed the cut-off date and the following year the State Labor Government decided not to put it up again “when weighed against competing priorities”.

MAIN North Rd and Dalkeith Rd intersection, which was refused funding as early as 2013, was the site of 19 crashes from 2014 to 2016. State Labor committed cash to upgrade the intersection in January.

A $1.6 MILLION plan to upgrade the Barrier Hwy bypass, put forward by the Goyder Council, was rejected in 2015 because councils were not allowed to submit proposals costing more than $1 million. State Labor announced funding in January after there were two crashes in 2016.

FUNDING support for Main South Rd, between Old Coach and Malpas roads, was requested by the State Government in July last year but was knocked back because it missed the cut-off date. The project went ahead anyway after a history of causality crashes and should be completed this month.

Between 2014/15 to 2016/17, more than 350 projects in SA were put up for consideration but only 100 — or 28 per cent — were funded. Victoria had the best success rate, with 306 of the 464 projects proposed being funded.

SA was provided $30.4 million in base funding under the Federal Black Spot Program between 2014 and 2016 but only $27.4 million was actually handed out.

THE TOP 20 METROPOLITAN CRASH SITES

Opposition infrastructure spokesman Anthony Albanese said if the right amount of funding had been delivered as promised another 16 projects could have been completed.

“The Turnbull Government has cut infrastructure investment in SA across the board,” he said.

Infrastructure Department southeast projects general manager Sarah Leeming said that the amount spent was controlled by state governments and councils.

“Projects can be delayed, for instance if there’s heavy rain or if there are problems getting approval. It’s most usually out of our control,” she told Senate estimates.

SA Road Transport Association executive director Steve Shearer, who was on the panel which selects projects, said the funding committed at the state and federal level was “frustratingly small”.

“The aim of the black spot program is excellent but the biggest problem is that it gets lip-service funding,” he said.

“Governments could multiply the funding bucket by 10 and it wouldn’t have a major impact on their budgets but it would have a significant impact on road safety.

“Until people have died, projects don’t qualify. Most people in the community would think surely we are trying to prevent fatal crashes.”

EVERY CRASH SITE IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA — 2012-2016

RAA road safety senior manger Charles Mountain said if the black spot program was expanded, crashes on the road network would be further reduced.

“It would be great if we had more money because projects on the tail of the list can’t get funding,” he said.

A spokesman for federal Infrastructure Minister Michael McCormack said the funding split each state received under the program was based on population and safety data.

The spokesman said since 2014/15 more than 1750 projects had been funded around the country but would not be drawn on whether extra funding would be provided as part of next month’s Federal Budget.

“Funding for the Bruce Highway in Queensland, the Midland Highway in Tasmania and the Pacific Highway in NSW are examples of the Government taking a ‘whole of corridor’ approach to improving safety,” the spokesman said, notably not listing any SA projects.

THE TOP 20 RURAL CRASH SITES