Advertisement

Black spot road fund has $80m sitting idle

Road fund under fire.

The Government is under fire for sitting on $80 million from speed and red light camera fines earmarked for road safety, despite WA having the worst road fatality rate in the nation.

A record of almost $111 million has been allocated from the Road Trauma Trust Account for projects in 2015-16, including upgrading country roads and city intersections, more speed cameras and increased alcohol and drug testing.

Road Safety Minister Liza Harvey confirmed the $80 million in unspent funds and said she did not believe in spending for the sake of it.

She said she had asked the Road Safety Council to develop a business case to allocate the unspent funds.

She expected it to be presented to her in the near future.

The Government promised money from camera fines would be solely for road safety.

WA had its worst road toll in four years last year and the RAC said to leave money in the account again was unacceptable.

RAC corporate affairs general manager Will Golsby said that on average last year one person died on WA roads every two days, with the toll this year worse than at the same time last year.

Mrs Harvey said the 2015-16 allocation was the biggest ever and the money kept was in reserve for future needs.

She suggested it could be for the recommendations of new groups aiming to reduce road trauma in the Wheatbelt and among motorcyclists, despite conceding they were unlikely to make submissions for several months.

Most projects the Road Safety Council recommended were approved this year, with the biggest focus on reducing run-off crashes and making city intersections safer. About one-third of people killed or badly injured on WA roads were in run-off crashes.

Crashes at intersections accounted for about 40 per cent of road deaths and serious injuries in the metropolitan area. More than $46 million will be used to widen road shoulders and install audible edge lining, overtaking lanes and wire barriers to reduce run-offs.

At least $12 million will be spent on roundabouts, traffic signals and other works at dangerous city intersections including Wanneroo Road and Hepburn Avenue, and Guildford Road and Tonkin Highway.

Office of Road Safety executive director Iain Cameron said the focus on priority crash types was paying off, with 20 per cent fewer people killed and seriously injured each year since the Towards Zero strategy was launched.

Shadow road safety minister Michelle Roberts said most funds went to Main Roads or police projects, “propping up” their budgets.