State Election - 2021
Tasmania's road trauma record is among the worst in Australia. In the lead up to the State Election in May, we called on all politicians and candidates to address the biggest road safety issues facing our community.
Taking a stand on road safety
Over the past decade we’ve witnessed countless tragedies on Tasmanian roads, which is why we called for an increased focus on road safety during the 2021 State Election.
After Tasmania failed to meet its National Road Safety Strategy (NRSS) targets at the end of 2020, we’re taking a stand on the issue.
We believe that Tasmania can be the best state in Australia when it comes to road safety.
We know what’s needed to keep Tasmanians safe on our roads. We know what the great weight of evidence tells us should be done.
What we need are the resources and a unity of purpose across all levels of government and the community to make this goal a reality.
How you helpedWe asked our members and the broader Tasmanian community to help us realise these priorities by directly lobbying political parties and candidates to take a stand on road safety.
With your support, we are another step closer to making our roads safer.
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Priority 1Currently, Tasmania is the only state in Australia that does not reinvest its speed camera enforcement revenue into road safety. This money is instead pulled back into general government revenue, where it isn’t specifically set aside for road safety initiatives.
This is why we want to see the money collected from speeding fines reinvested into road safety. We’re particularly keen to see this money go towards the roll out of more advanced speed camera and mobile phone detection technologies. These can better detect not just speed but mobile phone use and other distractions, which are an increasing concern to Tasmanian drivers.
An important outcome of this is that speeding offenders are the ones who pay for these road safety projects, rather than those who are doing the right thing.
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Priority 2The development of 10-year plans for Tasmania’s worst roads, including the provision of long-term funding.
Our members voted the following as the state's worst roads, in order:
1. Tasman Highway
2. Midland Highway
3. Southern Outlet- Hobart
4. Bass Highway
5. Channel Highway
6. Arthur Highway
7. Huon Highway
8. West Tamar Highway
Other than the Midland Highway, none of these roads have long-term 10-year plans. We believe this needs to change if we want to keep Tasmanians safe on our roads.
Significantly, these roads are also branded as major tourism routes yet are below the standard we need if we're to grow and maintain our reputation as one of the safest places in the world to visit.
Additionally, as part of Priority 2, we also want to see increased spending on road maintenance.
In the 2020-21 State Budget, the State and Federal governments allocated $484 million into road infrastructure. However, just $76 million of this was for road maintenance – a mere 15%.
While it’s important to invest in major infrastructure, it’s just as crucial to fund maintenance upgrades in a more proportionate way, particularly on regional council-owned roads.
Keeping score with our key priorities
We've kept a scorecard on where each party stands regarding these important issues.
| Political party | |||
| Policy priorities | Tasmanian Labor | Tasmanian Liberal | Tasmanian Greens |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reinvestment of revenue from speeding fines reinvested into road safety, particularly to fund more advanced speed and mobile phone enforcement technology. | |||
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The development of 10-year plans for Tasmania’s worst roads, including the provision of long-term funding.
As part of this priority, we also want to see increased spending on road maintenance. |
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| Legend | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Supports RACT election priority |
Partially supports RACT election priority |
Does not support RACT election priority |
BlankUnknown if party supports RACT election priority |