April 2002 Edition

FROM THE EDITOR

TOOWOOMBA CONGRESS 

ROADS TO RECOVERY UPDATE 

NATIONAL ROAD TRANSPORT COMMISSION 

AUSTROADS 

Planning for the Toowoomba Congress is proceeding well and a registration brochure has been circulated to Councils. The program and registration brochure can be downloaded from ALGA's web site at www.alga.com.au. ALGA is looking for sponsors and if there are local companies who would want to be part of the congress, please let me know their contact details.

I am pleased to be able to advise you that the Commonwealth has agreed to fund ALGA's national strategic asset management project. The project will take 18 months and provide input to our next two local roads congresses as well as ALGA’s General Assembly later this year. More details are provided below. Probably the most pleasing aspect of the grant is the acknowledgement by the Commonwealth of the role that asset management has in decision making at the local level.

I was fortunate to attend the Freight Logistics Industry Leaders Roundtable hosted by Minister Anderson on 26 March in Canberra. Last year , the Minister formed an Industry Steering Committee (chaired by John Bowdler) to develop an action agenda for the logistics industry. The Roundtable was convened to review its report, particularly the recommendations relating to the formation of an Australian Logistics Council. The Steering Committee's report from the meeting can be found online at www.trucknbus.com.au/files/ConsultDraft.doc.

The meeting was significant from local government's perspective. It reinforced Minister Anderson's commitment to an integrated approach to transport in Australia. While local roads are important part of our nation's infrastructure, our case for future funding must recognise the commitment of the government to investment in transport outcomes. While some may see this as a threat to our Roads to Recovery funding, others will see it as a clue for gaining Commonwealth support for continuing the program.

The Victorian Road Safety Committee has submitted its report into rural road safety and infrastructure. The report can be found online at http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/parlrsc/rural/report/Table%20of%20Contents.htm. A total of 50 recommendations are made, most of which are of interest to Councils.

As mentioned above, the program and registration brochure for the Toowoomba Congress can be downloaded from ALGA's web site. Councils are encouraged to register and book their accommodation as soon as possible. Whilst contact details of convenient accommodation is provided in the registration brochure, the booking has to be done separately from the registration. Therefore if Councils leave it too late they will find that their preferred accommodation is booked out.

The committee established following the Mildura Congress has been re-constituted as the ALGA Local Roads Committee. This is a positive step in that the State and Territory Associations are now major stakeholders in the congress process. An important session therefore will be the 'State Association Round Up' where a number of State Associations will make presentations of their own State initiatives. A number of these are compatible with ALGA's national asset management project creating an opportunity to develop a national agenda on asset management.

The Department of Transport and Regional Services reminds Councils that they should be now preparing their May quarterly report. The web site will open on 1 May for two weeks for Councils to submit their report to the Department electronically. All administrative requirements have to be met to ensure continuing payments. Councils should aim to draw down their full annual allocation in 2002/03, however they should also be aware that any 2001/02 funds not drawn down cannot be accessed in 2002/03. Rather they will have to wait until the end of the program.

The Department also advises that as at 15 April, 45 Councils had still not submitted an annual report for the previous year. If you are one of those, you should be aware that further payments cannot be made without the annual report being submitted.

The Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) is looking to develop a data template for Victorian projects funded from the Roads to Recovery program. ALGA will be interested in the template, as it will also need to collect data across all States and Territories before the program is finished.

The National Road Transport Commission (NRTC) Act has a sunset clause (January 2004). The NRTC will cease to exist unless replacement legislation is introduced. The Commonwealth is currently undertaking a review and sought comments from stakeholders.

ALGA made a submission indicating support for the Commission's work and for broadening its terms of reference to include rail reform. However ALGA emphasised that road transport reform should not be stalled as a result. It also indicated that it would like to see the powers of the NRTC increased to include national accreditation as part of a national strategy for compliance and enforcement.

The NRTC has embarked on a major study with Austroads on Performance Based Standards (PBS). This has the potential for changing the way trucks are regulated in this country. Whilst it will take several years to work through all the issues, local government needs to track its implications particularly in the context of local road access.

The NRTC has recently written to ALGA with proposed national guidelines for access to local roads. The proposal is that a number of Councils across Australia trial the guidelines before distribution throughout local government, probably as an Austroads publication. Councils wishing to participate in the trial should contact Peter Rufford at peter.rufford@alga.com.au for a copy of the guidelines.

ALGA is part of a project team reviewing the Austroads Local Government Partnership Plan. The project team met for the second time on 26 March. The results of survey of local government engineers was tabled at the meeting and highlighted the need to promote the participation of local government personnel in Austroads activities and to improve the relevance and distribution of outputs from Austroads. The Partnership Plan has been in operation for six years now and a review is timely.

Julie Parsons (WALGA) represented local government at the recent National Road Safety Strategy (NRSS) Panel meeting. She reports:

ARRB Transport Research provided an updated report to the School Bus Safety Advisory Group on crash statistics involving School Buses. It was noted that in the past two years there has not been one fatality directly related to school bus vehicle movements, however there have been serious injuries and deaths caused by child pedestrian behaviour and car conflicts following students alighting from school buses.

The School Bus Safety Expert Group is currently reviewing the 2^nd draft report of the recommendations made by each jurisdiction to be included in the School Bus Safety Action Plan. This group is refining the measures proposed, classifying actions into categories and reviewing the recommendations for feasibility (practicality and cost issues) as well as prioritising them in relation to the updated information and advice on School Bus crashes.

There has been some concern at the portrayal of speed and other aggressive driving behaviours in motor vehicle advertising. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau has drafted a proposed set of provisions that could form the basis of either an additional Code for Advertising Standards relating to road safety or more specific guidelines appended to the Advertiser Code of Ethics to cover road safety requirements.

The NRSS Panel discussed the issue of the road toll plateau that is currently being experienced. The need to review the actions developed for the NRSS was listed and panel members were requested for advice and input on this issue. The question put to the Panel included what do we need to do to manage and rectify this situation.

Discussion included

• The road toll plateau is being experienced worldwide.
• Should we be defining our actions to 4 or 5 specific issues?
• Do we need to be addressing the items in the action plan more aggressively?
• The media portray the issue of road trauma in a sympathetic manner rather than reporting the evidence on the causal factors involved in the crash. This has an impact on the community appreciation of the gravity and extent of the issue.
• State differences in resources etc can impact on the ability to implement the National Action Plan.

A presentation was made on the benefits of Planning and Road Safety to the Panel. Major issues included

• Benefits of Road Safety Audit – Crash likelihood and severity reduced.
• The need to apply appropriate Standards – Austroads guides to traffic engineering.
• Cost avoidance issues – compromised standards to avoid cost to developers, those costs are transferred to future asset owners and or users.
• Road Safety Audits should be applied to greenfields, brownfields, all strategic plans and development applications.
• Issue to be considered – accessibility and provision for people with disabilities, litigation, duty of care issues.

ATSB was asked to further progress the issue of the inclusion/incorporation of road safety elements in infrastructure planning and development guidelines and policies nationally.

Austroads has released the second edition of its Road Safety Audit guide. Completely updated and expanded from the 1994 publication, the guidelines draw together current practices for road safety audit in Australia, New Zealand and overseas.

The Road Safety Audit provides a comprehensive introduction to the road safety audit process. Easy to read and implement, the guide may be used by any person with a responsibility for or interest in road safety, and provides practitioners with ways of formally addressing road safety issues.

Designed for use by road safety and traffic engineers, police, academics, government officers, consultants and many others, Road Safety Audit provides a comprehensive overview to the application of the audit process to new and existing road designs. Clear details of the audit process are provided, together with a number of real case studies. Chapters are included on legal liability, costs and benefits, safety principles and technical issues that need to be considered in road safety engineering.

The guide includes checklists for use in assessing road designs and inspecting project sites at the different stages in a project’s development. These checklists are provided separately on loose-leaf sheets for ready copying and use in the field.

The Road Safety Audit (206 pages and in full colour) is priced at $58.30 (inc GST and postage) for Councils. Contact ARRB Transport Research, email: BookSales@arrb.com.au or ph: (03) 9881 1547.