Victor Harbor safety group wants road crash markers back on SA roads
We used to see them all across SA - markers showing the sites of fatal and serious crashes. But they’re slowly being removed, and these campaigns are asking for their return to save lives.
SA News
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A road safety campaigner at Victor Harbor wants fatality crash markers reintroduced more than five years after they began to disappear from South Australian roads.
Fleurieu Road Safety Group founding chairman Michael Scott said the removal of the black fatality and red injury posts by the Transport Department was “a fairly sore point”.
The roadside markers were “pulled out” after the State Government stopped funding the scheme early in 2015, leaving individual councils to choose whether to continue the program on their own roads.
“We were strong supporters of the program and believed it was a very meaningful way of reminding others of the dangers of driving,” Mr Scott said.
“They were all pulled out and I don’t know what happened to them because they cost a bit of money. We had no control over it at all.”
Mr Scott, who has been a lifetime volunteer with the CFS and ambulance service, said he had seen many “needless” road deaths.
He would like the crash markers back as “a stark reminder” to drive with care, even on good roads.
Mr Scott has been rebuilding the Fleurieu Road Safety Group, including recruiting young P-plate driver Tallara Pengilly.
The University of Adelaide’s Automotive Safety Research Centre studied crash marker posts around Gumeracha in 1999.
Centre director Associate Professor Jeremy Woolley said the study found drivers had not slowed down in the three years after the posts had been installed at crash sites.
However, many residents surveyed believed drivers had reduced their speeds.
“I am not aware of any evidence that the roadside makers modify behaviour, however, it does raise an issue in regard to communication regarding locations of risk on the road network,” Prof Woolley said.
“Ideally, road authorities should be communicating this risk as is the case with (star ratings of) cars.
“The public has no idea if, when taking a trip within the state, one route would be preferable over another based on safety risk alone.”
RAA safety and infrastructure senior manager Charles Mountain said there was no evidence crash markers positively influenced driver behaviour.
They also did not provide a comprehensive picture of blackspots because they were not installed if a bereaved family objected.
“Not everyone wants to be reminded,” he said.
The RAA has called for a long-term strategy of getting all of the regional road network up to at least a three-star safety rating, with one star being least safe and five being most safe.
A spokeswoman for Victor Harbor Council said most of the markers in the district had been on state-controlled roads.
There were no plans to remove any of the markers located on council roads but also no plans to introduce more.
It is unclear how many of the black and red posts remain on the state’s roads but a Transport Department spokesman said they would continue to be removed from regional roads during general maintenance work.
He said local councils and community road safety groups were welcome to run similar programs.
