GrainGrowers welcomes the opportunity to provide a submission to the Regulatory Impact Analysis on proposed reductions to the open road default speed limit.
GrainGrowers is a national organisation working to enhance the profitability and sustainability of Australian grain growers. GrainGrowers achieves this through the focus areas of policy and advocacy, grower engagement, thought leadership and active investment in future focused activities. Australian growers are at the heart of all that GrainGrowers does and is the focus of its work.
Grain growers and their families rely on regional road networks every day. From transporting grain to receival sites to accessing essential services, safe and efficient road networks are fundamental to the productivity and wellbeing of the grain industry. Well-maintained roads are also an equity issue with regional Australians deserving the same level of safety and reliability on their roads as those living in urban areas.
While GrainGrowers strongly supports efforts to reduce the disproportionate number of fatalities on regional roads, GrainGrowers is concerned that blanket speed limit reductions fail to address the root causes of road trauma. Lasting safety outcomes will only be achieved through a multipronged approach including:
1) Investment in safer road design and road maintenance: Increased investment in safer road design and maintenance is essential to reducing the road toll on regional and rural roads. Safe roads are a key element of the Safe System approach. Road design and condition play a critical role in determining whether a crash results in tragedy or a survivable incident.
2) Addressing behavioural factors: Similarly, addressing risky driving behaviours is essential to reducing the regional road toll. National crash data consistently shows that behavioural factors remain a major contributor to road trauma.
GrainGrowers welcomes the opportunity to discuss this issue further. Please contact Policy Manager, Trade and Supply chains Annabel Mactier Annabel.Mactier@graingrowers.com.au if you have any questions.
Read the full submission: