Stop Senseless March Madness
31/03/2014
The injury and death toll of ‘Mad March’ on South Australian roads should prompt a re-think, not a new road safety campaign, says Dignity for Disability MLC, Kelly Vincent. Responding to news reports from SA Police that indicate higher road death and injury statistics in the month of March, Ms Vincent has suggested more should be done to stagger the big ticket events.
“With the Adelaide Fringe, Adelaide Festival of Arts, Womadelaide, Future Music Festival, Clipsal 500 and AFL football games the population and activity in Adelaide surges for this short period,” said Ms Vincent.
“Throw in the Adelaide Cup long weekend and top it off with South Australia’s fixed term election on the third Saturday in March every four years and while some say it’s mad, I call it senseless.”
“A state election could be shifted to spring, and the SAJC have recently expressed an interest in re-jigging the date for Adelaide Cup.
“SAPOL is saying that there is a problem, we shouldn’t ignore that, and there are some adjustments that could be made to the calendar to spread these events out a bit more.
“I would like to see a breakdown of how many of these accidents involve cyclists and pedestrians, as well as where they are occurring.
“Planning another road safety blitz is unlikely to make any difference; we already see a strong police presence around the city particularly with random breath testing stations. I think it is time to re-evaluate the cost to the government of each of these events, and that would have to include the increased long term cost of motor vehicle accidents.
“There is a lesson of history to be learnt here, and as we know, those who fail to learn from the mistakes of history are doomed to repeat them,” said Ms Vincent.
