Page 3260 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 22 August 2012
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objectionable to anybody, leaving aside the fact that the government does not feel the need to endorse Liberal Party policy. The amendment acknowledges the importance of continuing to improve pedestrian safety at schools and in the wider community. As to the current policy in relation to the school zones, Mr Coe did not go to the issue of the differences between New South Wales and the ACT so I am not sure whether Liberal policy includes changing the hours of operation for the school zone. The amendment agrees to adopt the principle of evidence-based decision making in relation to local services such as road safety based on expert assessment and agreed criteria and decisions to prioritise municipal services.
I say this as a person who has lost a loved one on a road. I do not take this motion lightly. The biggest thing we can do is encourage drivers to drive responsibly on our roads. The person I lost was riding a bike and was cleaned up by someone travelling 110 kilometres an hour in an 80 zone. Accidents do happen. We need to make sure that drivers are encouraged to abide by the current road rules. I certainly do not take this motion lightly; I have considered it in depth. I am a person who has been directly affected by a death on the roads and my very firm belief—even being involved in that court case and the response to that court case and my work now as minister for TAMS—is that the best advice we can take is from the road engineers and other road safety experts.
At this point in time none of them are recommending a standard approach or a blanket approach to flashing lights around school zones. From my experience, the safety issues that affect one school are always different to the issues that affect another. I accept that we must ensure that they are dealt with promptly and if any remedial actions are necessary that they are taken immediately.
MS LE COUTEUR (Molonglo) (8.40): I am very pleased that the Assembly is debating pedestrian safety today. It is obviously something which is of importance to Canberra and, as I keep saying, we are all pedestrians at some stage and so this is the basis of our transport system, you could even say.
We will not be supporting Mr Coe’s motion about flashing lights in school zones today, and I will go through some of the reasons why. We will, however, be supporting the government’s amendment. The government’s amendment, basically, is a lot broader. What it is doing is drawing everybody’s attention to the issue. I know it is not my motion but I would think that the issue before the Assembly is pedestrian safety at schools and for the wider community.
I also totally agree with the suggestion that we adopt evidence-based decision making in relation to local services. And I must admit one of the concerns I have had during the Assembly is that when the Assembly tries to become a road engineer, which we have tried to do a few times, it has always made me a little nervous as to whether we actually know enough about what we are talking about. Anyway, as I said, we are big supporters of pedestrian safety.
Earlier this week, the Greens, through me as our active transport spokesperson, launched a $14.7 million pedestrian/cycling safety package. That included, of course, funding for pedestrian safety as well as funding for cyclist safety. There was a specific
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