My Parliamentary colleague and Member for Barron River, Steve Wettenhall MP, today announced that the Regional Road Safety Summit will be held on 17 November. The road toll this year in Far North Queensland is at an unacceptably high level – there have been 40 deaths on far northern region roads which is 19 more deaths than this time last year.
I commend Mr Wettenhall for calling for this summit. It is exactly what is needed in order to have a mature and rational discussion about addressing the road toll rather than opportunistic and inappropriate remarks from the LNP who have continued to use these tragic events for political mileage. The critical factors in almost all of the incidents in the Far North this year have been speed and driver error – not the road – a point reiterated by Police.
The summit is a chance for the community to put forward their solutions for the road toll in their region, and their ideas on how we can work together to make a difference. It will be conducted in two components:
- a day time ministerial and stakeholder session
- an evening public session after work hours.
A confidential online questionnaire will also available until 14 October for those people who are unable to get to the summit. The survey presents issues that have been identified by the Department of Transport and Main Roads in their analysis of the main contributors to the current road toll in the region.
I’ll be attending the summit, as will Police and Emergency Services Minister Neil Roberts, Main Roads Minister Craig Wallace and Transport Minister Rachel Nolan. I encourage the residents of North Queensland to do the same and have their say.
RSS
Twitter
Facebook
