The best solution to M1 traffic woes on the Gold Coast is driverless cars

THERE’S a great solution to the Gold Coast’s M1 traffic woes and it’ll eliminate ‘driver stupidity’ causing most crashes. But you’ll have to wait 15 years. TELL US WHAT YOU THINK

A LEADING transport academic says the best solution to the Gold Coast’s M1 traffic woes is for motorists to wait 15 years for driverless car technology to become mainstream.

Griffith University associate professor Matthew Burke said crashes caused by ”driver stupidity” was one of the leading causes of congestion and machines should be driving instead.

“We remain vulnerable (to crashes and delays) to human error until the time comes when we can bring in autonomous vehicles,” said the principal research fellow at the university’s Cities Research Institute.

“Driverless cars are the first thing on the horizon in the terms of a solution and it’s about 10 to 15 years away.

WHY THE GOLD COAST NEEDS A SECOND M1

“I am very confident we will not be looking at a steering wheel while driving in the future.”

Ford, Holden, Volvo, Mercedes-Benz and Toyota are all testing driverless car technology.

Driver assist systems which look out for hazards on the road are already available in a range of new cars including Mazda, Tesla and Hyundai.

The best solution is for driverless cars to ease gridlock

In August the National Roads and Motorists Association released a report predicting autonomous cars would be available in Australia by 2025.

Prof Burke said this would almost eradicate unexpected delays which cost time and money which were often caused by crashes caused by “driver stupidity”.

“Every day the travel time will be much less, it will be much similar and very steady,” Prof Burke said.

“A lot of it is down to driver stupidity.

“Accidents and motorists not securing loads to their vehicles properly can delay tens of thousands of people.”

Traffic count figures from Transport and Main Roads show 144,437 cars using the M1 each day.

The M1 has been forecast to reach maximum capacity by 2020.

A 2015 Abbott Government infrastructure report found the annual economic impact of congestion on the Gold Coast, Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast alone was forecast to increase from $1.9 billion in 2011 to a potential $9.2 billion in 2031.

Prof Burke’s comments come just a week after Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey suggested the best way to avoid M1 snarl-ups during the Commonwealth Games was for motorists not to use it.

The LNP has proposed a duplicate road be built on a corridor of reserved land, but the Labor government has rejected the idea, saying it would cost $2.4 billion to build.

Traffic on the M1 costs millions in lost productivity. Picture: John Gass

Prof Burke said self-driving cars were the simplest and easiest solution to the problem of M1 congestion because in areas like Nerang there was no room to increase road infrastructure by constructing additional arterial roads.

“At Nerang it’s a classic example of where not to crash,” Prof Burke said.

Renowned demographer Bernard Salt has also raised doubts about the effectiveness of building expensive new roads, saying Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast residents should stop travelling to Brisbane for jobs in large numbers.

“You can’t get enough tax out of that population to deliver the freeways and motorways system and railway system to get everyone around,” Mr Salt said.