State Government announces $100million boost to road safety

26/05/05
To save the lives of more Western Australians on the roads the Gallop Government will inject more than $100million into specific road safety projects over the next 12 months.
Community Safety Minister Michelle Roberts today outlined the Government's agenda on major road safety initiatives and achievements across the key agencies involved in road safety.
In Parliament, Mrs Roberts tabled the 'Working Together for Road Safety 2005-2006' a report which specifies how funding from speed and red light camera offences would be spent on improving road safety in the community.
The Minister said the Gallop Government had allocated more than $101million in this year's Budget for road safety initiatives - nearly $70million more than the estimated $33million from speed and red light camera infringements.
"This is a great news story for road safety in WA, with more funding than ever before being focussed on saving more lives," she said.
"Road safety is a major priority for our Government and we have boosted the funding far and above the fines generated from speed and red light cameras to safeguard more Western Australians and to protect our unique lifestyle.
"Over the last four years we have implemented a wide-ranging road safety program of new laws and initiatives such as the 50kmh limit, banning mobile phones while driving and better driver training, which have successfully dropped the road toll to its lowest levels since records were first kept more than 40 years ago."
The breakdown of the $100million funding includes:

• $22.4million for the Road Trauma Trust Fund to pay for road safety awareness programs;
• $32.6million for improvements to road networks;
• $20million to target traffic blackspots - an increase of $5million;
• $20million on the Safer Roads Program;
• $5million for enforcement programs; and
• $1.4million to operate the independent Road Safety Council and Office of Road Safety.