Australian Trucking Association Chair Mick Parry said Australia’s governments should leave rural speed limits alone and instead should focus on safety.

Following his release of the ATA submission to the Australian Government infrastructure departments consultation paper, that has rural communities shaking their heads, as Government plans to reduce default speed limits outside built-up areas.

Mr Parry says there are more effective ways to improve road safety. 

“According to the consultation paper, reducing speed limits would generate $2.20 in benefits for every dollar it would cost,” he said.

“For the same dollar, we could get $9.60 in benefits by placing more warning signs at dangerous locations on rural roads or $6.60 in benefits through line marking,” he said.

Australian Trucking Association Chair Mick Parry says there are more effective ways to improve road safety [Image Australian Trucking Association]

Mr Parry said the spending more on road upgrades and maintenance would better fit the bill.

“Maintaining non-urban roads better and upgrading them would support the industry’s productivity, reduce maintenance costs and improve the resilience of the road system as Australia’s climate gets worse,” he said.

The impact on such things as freighting livestock and delays in meeting delivery curfews were concerns raised by ATA members.

“After the consultation paper was published, a Sydney Morning Herald story noted that the reduction would increase the length of a 30-minute transit by around the duration of a Taylor Swift track,” he said.

“There aren’t many 30-minute transits on non-signed roads in rural and remote Australia. In any case, truck drivers work all day, not just for half an hour.

“The productivity impact of reducing the speed limit would be significant and is understated in the paper,” he said.

The submission points out that the cost modelling in the paper—

• • assumes that truck driver wages have not increased in real terms since 2013
  • uses a 9.25 per cent superannuation rate instead of the current rate, 12 per cent
  • bases the cost of increased freight travel times on a survey that looked at the cost of inter capital and metropolitan freight, not rural freight.

NSW Farmers have also spoken out in concern over the issue.

Better Roads not slower trucks say NSW Farmers [Image A.White]

Better roads, not slower trucks, are what’s needed to reduce the surging road toll in the regions, NSW Farmers has told a state inquiry recently.

Serious investment in local road funding is long overdue, NSW Farmers’ Business Economics and Trade Committee Chair John Lowe said, with broader solutions to road repair still nowhere in sight. 

“We’ve got a long road ahead to improve our road safety – but it’s only by addressing the root causes of the problem, that we can keep our regional communities safe.”

One local western area truckie said this would be a real danger to truckies already struggling to meet time demands.

“This is bloody ridiculous and can only come from bureaucrats who live in city areas. Life is already hard with long hours for so many truckies out here. How are we expected to meet time constraints when we are made to slow down even more.

“It’s not safe and it shows a real disconnect between city people and rural people. If we had great roads out here that would be a hell of a better start that’s for sure.”

Member for Barwon Roy Butler says the proposal is unacceptable [Image Roy Butlers Office]

Member for Barwon Roy Butler said that this proposal would have an unacceptable impact on the daily lives of country people.

“A lower speed limit means longer trips and less time in the day for family, community and work. It would increase the isolation that many country people experience, which has its own negative health impacts,” said Mr Butler. 

Mr Butler has established a petition and is asking for people in the region to put their names on it.

“Now is the time for people to sign my petition and show the Minister that lower speed limits are not the right solution for country roads,” said Mr Butler. 

The petition states “country people deserve respect for our ability to drive to local conditions, and we reject this nanny-state proposal to remove our freedoms.”  

The petition is available at Mr Butler’s website or at:

https://www.roybutler.com.au/open_road_speed_limits