Question on Government Road Safety Initatives

Mr SOUTHWICK (Caulfield) -- My question is to the Minister for Roads. Can the minister update the house on the government's Arrive Alive road safety action plan for 2011 and 2012, current road safety initiatives and the current road toll?

Mr MULDER (Minister for Roads) -- I would like to thank the member for Caulfield for his question and his strong and ongoing interest in road safety in Victoria. I can report to the house that as of midnight last night the road toll in Victoria is 14 under what it was for the same time last year. We wish our road safety people and the road safety fraternity of Victoria Police well as they move towards the Christmas period and hope that they can assist us to produce a record road-toll low for this particular year.

A lot has happened in relation to the initiatives taken by the coalition government. I know that on 31 August this year the Leader of the Opposition raised with me the issue in relation to the action plan. The action plan is now up on the website. It contains a lot of the initiatives that have been put in place by the government of the day. We have gone down the pathway of working with country newspapers to talk the toll down. We have gone down the pathway of seeking information from the public in relation to the numberplates in Victoria displaying a very clear, sound road safety message. We have instigated the P-plate driver project -- a $10 million research project on reducing the risk of young drivers being killed or seriously injured. We have gone down the pathway of a speed zone review. We are targeting irresponsible road users who put the lives of others at risk.

We will put in place an additional 1700 police by the end of 2014.

We have introduced antihoon laws, with a record number of hoons taken off the road and over 1000 hoons' vehicles impounded since these laws were toughened in June 2011. These laws increase the impoundment period from 48 hours to 30 days. We are sending a very clear message to hoon drivers that their actions and behaviour will not be tolerated. It has been recognised for a long period of time that Victoria leads the way in relation to behavioural issues and driving the road toll down in relation to behavioural issues.

We know there is more to be done in relation to infrastructure improvements throughout the road network, and I will report to the Parliament on a number of initiatives that will be carried out in the not-too-distant future. In fact this particular program runs until the end of 2012.

Turning to the safer road infrastructure program, some $430 000 will be spent in Bendigo East on improvements to the intersection of McIvor Highway and Kennedy Street.

In Ripon, $1.48 million will be spent on run-off road treatments around Grampians Road; there will be $1.45 million for run-off treatments on Ballarat-Carngham Road; $530 000 for a new roundabout at the Midland Highway-Clunes-Creswick Road intersection; and $104 000 for signage and line marking on Ballarat-Maryborough Road. In Monbulk, there is $840 000 for run-off road crash treatments on Mountain Highway and Colchester Road. In Cranbourne, $1.86 million will be spent on intersection improvements in Carrum Downs. In Macedon, there is $5 million for run-off treatments on Melbourne-Lancefield…

There is also $370 000 for safety improvements in Sunbury and $60 000 for safety improvements at the intersection of Bacchus Marsh-Gisborne Road and Gisborne-Kilmore Road. In the seat of Yuroke, there is $5.3 million for safety improvements on the Hume Highway between Craigieburn and Kalkallo, and $4.8 million for run-off road treatments along Tullamarine Freeway, English Street and Sunbury Road around Melbourne Airport.