Comment on Road safety data shows pedestrian deaths have increased by almost 50 per cent since 2021
shirro@aussie.zone 5 days ago
As usual follow the money. The automotive lobby keeps killing people to make profits. They control the flow of information and public policy. People die for profits. That is all there is to it. If we wanted to cut pedestrian deaths all it takes is for people to shake off the influence and care about their families and community instead of swallow the mindless shit fed to them by paid influencers and media and then hold politicians accountable.
To many huge trucks on the road and I don’t just mean the taxpayer subsidized yank tanks. Hugely profitable private logistics companies got public rail defunded over decades to the point it is unusable. Can’t walk to schools or shops without having to cross unsignalled intersections crossed by huge road trains all day and night. Successive governments have pushed heavy vehicle traffic onto B roads through small town centers and roads never designed for it and off the major highways with their bypasses and safety upgrades. All because they are too cheap to fund the necessary infrastructure upgrades at a small number of choke points. One day a double tanker of dangerous chemicals isn’t going to make a turn with the shops on one side and kindy and childcare on the other. It will make the headlines for a couple of days and then it will be back to heads in the sand.
This country has some excellent institutions and people but fundamentally the media and politics is controlled by a small corrupt elite regardless of which party governs.
indomara@lemmy.world 4 days ago
Absolutely this. I live in Brisbane, where Gympie Rd is also the major North/South highway. In order to drive from Gold Coast to Sunshine Coast, you end up taking Gympie Rd or pay to take the detour across the toll bridge to the East.
If you want to go from the city to the Northern Suburbs you pay the toll or take Gympie Rd. (Some suburbs have no choice of a toll road and simply must take Gympie.)
This road was never designed to be a major highway. It has schools on it, it has houses that face it. People die because this one road takes all the traffic.
On a smaller scale, take the large roundabout near my house at the intersection of Webster Rd and Hamilton Rd in Chermside. Just 350m West of that roundabout is Craigslea Primary School, and just past that, the high school.
The cachement for these schools extends East across that roundabout into the neighbourhood on the East side of Webster Rd. Every morning and afternoon on schooldays I see children lining up to try to cross the roundabout during rush hour.
This roundabout is right in front of a major hospital and right next to the fire and ambulance stations. It is very unsafe, and there is no safe way for children to cross. Lots of parents drive their kids, or the kids will take longer routes home to walk to a street with a crossing light.
Here is a snapshot of a kid crossing the roundabout on google maps: maps.app.goo.gl/5AW57JS8KDgvS4RS6
Gympie Rd magically turns from a highway into a proper freeway just 4.5km North of that roundabout, no on ramps or off ramps, you just cross the final light at Beams Rd and you are on a freeway North to Sunshine Coast.