Eastern Shore Sun - Roads Need Repair

Roads Need Repair

By INGRID HARRISON

THE Road Safety Task Force has blamed the recent spate of serious road accidents in Tasmania on driver error or behaviour.

The patch-work quilt that is the Tasman Highway, one of major thoroughfares out of the city and to the airport and the fast-growing outer areas of Sorell municipality.

Task Force chairman Paul Hogan says the main problem is the way people choose to drive. Mr Hogan says speed, fatigue and not taking account of the road conditions are the major causes of serious road accidents.

While conceding that there was a need to upgrade some infrastructure such as junctions and crossings, he said roads didn’t kill people, people killed people.

The patch-work quilt that is the Tasman Highway, one of major thoroughfares out of the city and to the airport and the fast-growing outer areas of Sorell municipality.

While the Road Safety Task Force chairman is correct to call for an improvement in Tasmanians’ driving standards, the state of many of our major roads can challenge even the best drivers.

Eastern Shore motorists and others using the Tasman Highway to and from the airport have long complained about the standard of the road surface for a considerable part of the journey.

For example, the road surface from the Tasman Bridge to the Mornington Roundabout is little more than a patch-up job and is so rough in parts that there is a tendency for vehicles travelling east in the inside lane to veer to the right and into the path of faster moving traffic. In fact, many more drivers now travel exclusively in the right-hand lane, avoiding the rougher inside lane. This is of course is not good driving etiquette which dictates that if you are not overtaking, you should remain in the left hand lane, however the road conditions force drivers to ignore good driving practice.

Coming into the city, the inside slip road that allows a continual flow of traffic from Bellerive is also in very poor condition and has been repeatedly patched to create an extremely bumpy approach to the bridge.

While these conditions may not on their own cause major accidents, they are not conducive to safe driving and potentially could cause damage to vehicle suspensions and tyres.

Certainly, the people of Hobart and visitors to our state should rightly expect the main highway to and from the capital city airport to be maintained in a far better condition than it is currently.

The Eastern Shore Sun joins with the Road Safety Task Force to encourage Tasmanians to drive safely and take account of prevailing road and weather conditions.

But the State Government can also play its part by ensuring that the roads are maintained at a reasonable standard. The complete resurfacing of the Tasman Highway from the Tasman Bridge towards the airport and Sorell, and the resurfacing of the left-hand lane onto the bridge would represent a positive start in this regard.

Another patch-up job is not good enough as the road from Hobart to the airport is one of the state’s busiest and is deserving of priority attention.

» 1 Comment

1Comment
at Monday, 16 June 2008 05:33by Scribe of Hobart

It's a real issue for safety on our roads, and this highway is a major route that needs serious attention. It's time for less words and more action by politicians of all persuasions!

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