AAA welcomes Coalition support for funding transparency reform

Days after new data showed Australia’s road safety crisis continuing to worsen, the Coalition’s road safety commitments – announced ahead of the Easter weekend and laid out in formal correspondence to the AAA – appropriately push safety and road funding integrity into the Federal election campaign and promise the national road safety leadership that experts have for many years sought.

The AAA strongly endorses the Coalition’s new commitment to a no-fault crash investigation pilot, while the Coalition’s commitment to additional funding to the Roads to Recovery program and the establishment of a new Driver Reviver Site Upgrades program are also important and welcome.

The Coalition commitment to back the AAA’s My Safety Counts campaign follows last week’s commitment from The Greens to support the AAA campaign ask, and commitments from dozens of independent and minor party candidates who have already endorsed the proposed anti-pork barrelling road funding reforms.

Close to 500,000km of Australian roads have been rated for safety using the Australian Road Assessment Program (AusRAP) and its five-star scale.  

But because these ratings are not made public, Australian voters have no way of knowing whether roads are being funded for political reasons or to improve road safety.

AAA Managing Director Michael Bradley said: “Relevant AusRAP ratings should be published at the time of road announcements so Australians can make their own conclusions about what’s motivating the road funding decisions or parties and candidates.

“The AAA today thanks the Coalition for backing this commonsense transparency measure that will ensure road funding gets to projects where it can save the most lives.”

Mr Bradley said the AAA was pursuing its reform proposal during the election period through its My Safety Counts campaign, with calls for improved safety and improved funding integrity drawing strong support from across the political spectrum.

Today’s formal endorsement from the Coalition parties builds on public support offered by independent MPs Monique Ryan (Kooyong), Andrew Wilkie (Clark), Bob Katter (Kennedy), Helen Haines (Indi), Sophie Scamps (Mackellar), Zoe Daniel (Goldstein), Senator David Pocock (ACT), and all Greens party candidates.

Mr Bradley said: “Efforts to reduce Australia’s soaring road toll should enjoy broad support and be above partisan politics, and we look forward to hearing whether the Labor Party is also prepared to stand up for funding integrity and transparency in the lead-up to polling day.”

The My Safety Counts campaign offers Australians an opportunity to directly engage with candidates via mysafetycounts.org.au to ask them for evidence about announced road proposals, and their views on evidence-based funding.

AAA research shows Australians are deeply cynical about road funding, and that voters think federal politicians prioritise projects that deliver political benefits, over projects that deliver safety or economic benefits.

Since January, the AAA has tallied more than 80 new road project commitments from the major parties. The AAA expects more than half of these should have an AusRAP rating, yet only one project announcement has been substantiated by an AusRAP rating.

The AusRAP star rating system is used by every Australian state and territory to measure the safety of the roads and how potential upgrades affect safety outcomes. AusRAP’s engineering protocols are also used in 131 other countries.

AusRAP road safety assessments on individual roads are based on the measurement and evaluation of risk factors, such as average daily traffic; speed limit; number of lanes in each direction; lane width; shoulder width; presence or absence of roadside barriers and rumble strips; gradient and curvature; quality of line markings; skid resistance; whether road is single or dual carriageway; and provisions for pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists.