NSW Farmers President Xavier Martin has welcomed the state government’s common-sense response to the federal government’s push to slash rural speed limits.
Mr Martin said the proposal to cut speed limits on country roads to 80km/h was a “straw man” solution for road safety, and serious investment in regional roads and bridges was needed to solve the problem.
“Band aid solutions won’t fix the problem of crumbling roads and bridges, or deal with the growing road toll here in the regions,” Mr Martin said.
“Fixing the real driver of road trauma – that is, our ruined roads – is what will make a real difference. We need to get people home safely each day, and farmers need to be able to get their food and fibre to market safely as well.”
Last week NSW Regional Transport and Roads Minister Jenny Aitchison made it “very, very clear… (that) , the NSW Government does not support blanket speed zone reviews across NSW.”
Mr Martin said safe, properly maintained roads were critical to safety, but so too were efficient, connected rail networks to take pressure off rural and regional roads.
“Slowing us all down is simply a straw man solution, and if they’re going to ignore the real problems at play, we’ll never reduce our road toll,” Mr Martin said.
“If you look down the track, we’ll all be crawling along while fresh food rots in the truck, all because governments no longer prioritise proper road repair and maintenance.
“It’s not the speed limits that are the problem – they’ve been set for decades – it’s the fact that our roads aren’t as safe as they used to be.”
Media Release: NSW Farmers
