The NSW Roads and Traffic Authority’s ( RTA) Newell Highway Safety Review states that the “speed limit will be reduced to a consistent 100km/h from the Victorian border to the Queensland border”.
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But after being taken to task by the NRMA, the authority has declared the statement a recommendation.
RTA road safety boss Dr Soames Job said a decision had “not been finalised”, according to the NRMA.
“That was a recommendation from the review team,” Dr Job is reported to have said.
NRMA president Wendy Machin sounded the warning bell after travelling by B-double from Brisbane to Dubbo last week.
She hopped out of Rod Hannifey’s truck, calling for Newell Highway communities, the trucking industry, local councils, motorists and the police to be consulted.
“There is minimal justification in the report as to why the RTA will drop the speed limit on the Newell Highway, nor a timeline for it to happen,” she said at the time.
The NRMA president said she feared a reduction in the speed limit could lead to queues of trucks and cars “impatiently waiting to overtake” on a highway of which only 9 per cent featured overtaking lanes.
Ms Machin also questioned how making motorists spend more time on the Newell could have a positive effect on crash statistics when fatigue was the “dominant behavioural cause of casualties”.
The NRMA also believes that the RTA intends to reduce the speed limit on the Newell Highway within Dubbo to 50km/h.
Dubbo MP Dawn Fardell is supportive of cutting back the speed limit as a way of addressing a “horrendous number of incidents in our area”.
Parkes MP Mark Coulton and State Opposition spokesman on roads Andrew Stoner have called for more overtaking lanes while Dubbo mayor Allan Smith has declined to buy into the the speed limit debate, citing a lack of information on the RTA proposal.
NSW transport minister David Campbell said “while the review is underway it’s not appropriate to speculate on the outcome”.
His federal counterpart Anthony Albanese said “issues such as these are best handled by the State road authorities in consultation with local communities”.
The NRMA is offering to take the concerns of Newell Highway users to the RTA and the Newell Highway Taskforce.
“We want people to blog or upload a video on www.roadtube.com.au or write to the NRMA,” Ms Machin said.
kim.bartley@ruralpress.com
