From the President - February 2019
VICTORIAN ROAD TOLL LOWEST ON RECORD
How pleasing it was to see that the Victorian road toll was the lowest on record when “only” 214 people died on the roads in 2018, which was 45 fewer than in 2017 and 29 fewer than the previous record low of 243 in 2013.
Data released by the Transport Accident Commission shows that 108 people lost their lives on Victoria’s regional roads in 2018, 47 fewer than in 2017 and 29 less than the previous record low of 138 in 2008.
Transport Accident Commission road safety manager Samantha Cockfield was reported as saying that it was the installation of more than 1500 kilometres of wire-rope safety barriers on high-traffic and high-risk rural roads in recent years that was the main factor in this decline. “The barriers have been hit over 3000 times this year,” she said.
Wire-rope safety barriers have not been without their critics. It is a harsh fact, however, that traffic engineers have to face all the time, that while there may be anecdotal concepts (the pub test?) about why a safety measure may not suit a particular situation, such as motorcyclists sliding into wire ropes, the reality is that we have to use funds in a proven manner.
NATIONAL CONFERENCE
By the time you receive this newsletter, potential authors should have received an initial response to their submission of their abstracts. We have had a good response and we are building up to another stellar event. More information about the conference is on our web site.
AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES AND TRAFFIC ENGINEERING
AITPM Fellow, Alan Finlay has made a big effort to document situations where autonomous vehicles are going to have trouble “reading” the situation by looking at many locations in the city area. His report (with plenty of pictures) is in the newsletter. AITPM member Graeme Pattison has written an alternative view also printed below.
This adds an additional dimension to the paper presented at our 2018 National Conference on the infrastructure needed to support autonomous vehicles.
I encourage AITPM members to consider these issues and make their opinions known. I intend to ensure that the work by Alan and others is taken to the car companies as a way of establishing some constructive dialogue.
FREE PUBLIC TRANSPORT - SOUNDS GOOD BUT WHAT DOES THE ANALYSIS SAY?
AITPM member David Sulejic from Queensland, sent in a link to an article from The Conversation that puts some perspective on offering free public transport. The article from the University of Luxembourg looks broadly at issues of the state of the transport system, the desire for economic growth, the cost of subsidies and whether free public transport is a method of wealth distribution.
I particularly like their conclusion, not just because of its inference on this particular issue but because it highlights how we must not look at issues in a one-dimensional way. The authors finished their piece with the following paragraph.
The whole idea of free public transport is utterly simplistic because of the complex, interrelated composition of demographic, socioeconomic and geopolitical issues at stake. If political leaders are serious about improving mobility, then they will need to undertake a more serious analysis of the problems, and provide a more convincing, context-sensitive set of proposals to solve them. But maybe that doesn’t matter, as long as it looks good.
David Sulejic also sent in a link to an article about the introduction of scooters to the Brisbane CBD which we cover in more detail in this newsletter. The contribution of state newsletter representatives is a very important part of our newsletter.
PAUL SMITH
National President