Study: Rail group highlights burden of road crashes

[ozbob]

At the recent meeting of the Brisbane Institute (      Brisbane Institute - Derailing traffic chaos – Mon 2 August )  I highlighted the cost of road fatalities and road trauma.  My estimate was $40 BILLION, $30 billion injury costs and $10 billion fatality costs annually.  I think it was a surprise to some.  This is a most significant reason as to why we must move to safe sustainable mass transit options. Money invested in public transport is returned many, many times over, for ever.  The cost of road trauma is breaking the nation.

This study is extremely important.

Click --> here to download The Cost of Road Crashes report.

Rail group highlights burden of road crashes

Rail group highlights burden of road crashes

The Australasian Railway Association (ARA) has published a study "The Cost of Road Crashes", highlighting that the cost of road collisions in Australia tops $35 billion annually.

"Australians should not tolerate this needless waste of lives and money any longer. The loss of 1,500 lives and $35 billion in road crashes annually is an absolute tragedy" said Mr Nye, ARA CEO.

The study analyses the cost of road accidents using internationally recognised methods and statistical values, correcting inconsistent methods used by Australian policy makers.

"This is a very important study as it outlines the true cost of road accidents using internationally-recognised methods, something that has not been done in Australia to date," said Mr Nye.

Despite the high human and economic costs of road accidents, Australian policy makers have been hesitant to account for and address the problems associated with the social cost of road use.

"When it comes to dealing with the costs of road accidents, urban congestion and environmental degradation, our policy makers seem reluctant to tackle these issues. Again we are a long way behind the developed world in transport reform," Mr Nye continued.

"I am concerned that the National Transport Commission (NTC) and other government agencies are making decisions on Australia's future transport networks without taking into account the costs it will impose on people's safety, the liveability of our local communities and the state of our environment," Mr Nye said.

"We want all sides of politics to commit to the Productivity Commission reporting on the social costs and benefits associated with all modes of land transportation.

"Australians deserve a transport system that is not only efficient but safe and sustainable. Failing to consider these important issues would be irresponsible" concluded Mr Nye.

[ozbob]

Sent to all outlets:

13th August 2010

Greetings

At the recent meeting of the Brisbane Institute ( Brisbane Institute - Derailing traffic chaos – Mon 2 August http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=4160.0 )   I highlighted the cost of road fatalities and road trauma.  My estimate following research was $40 BILLION, $30 billion injury costs and $10 billion fatality costs.  I think it was a surprise to some.  This is a most significant reason as to why we must move to safe sustainable mass transit options. Money invested in public transport is returned many, many times over, for ever.  The cost of road trauma is breaking the nation.

The Australasian Railway Association (ARA) has published a study "The Cost of Road Crashes", highlighting that the cost of road collisions in Australia tops $35 billion annually.

This study is extremely important.

Click --> http://www.ara.net.au/UserFiles/file/Publications/TheCostofRoadCrashesReport.pdf to download The Cost of Road Crashes report.

It is time that we moved forward with proper investments in safe sustainable transport options.  The present farcical rail timetable in south-east Queensland must be fixed as an urgent priority.  The Sunshine Coast line timetable is a real mess.  Why are these citizens treated so poorly? ( http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=4229.0 )

Enough of the cruel and burdensome pain for Australia. Lets get cracking!

Best wishes
Robert

Robert Dow
Administration
RAIL Back On Track

============================

Rail group highlights burden of road crashes

Quote

Rail group highlights burden of road crashes

The Australasian Railway Association (ARA) has published a study "The Cost of Road Crashes", highlighting that the cost of road collisions in Australia tops $35 billion annually.

"Australians should not tolerate this needless waste of lives and money any longer. The loss of 1,500 lives and $35 billion in road crashes annually is an absolute tragedy" said Mr Nye, ARA CEO.

The study analyses the cost of road accidents using internationally recognised methods and statistical values, correcting inconsistent methods used by Australian policy makers.

"This is a very important study as it outlines the true cost of road accidents using internationally-recognised methods, something that has not been done in Australia to date," said Mr Nye.

Despite the high human and economic costs of road accidents, Australian policy makers have been hesitant to account for and address the problems associated with the social cost of road use.

"When it comes to dealing with the costs of road accidents, urban congestion and environmental degradation, our policy makers seem reluctant to tackle these issues. Again we are a long way behind the developed world in transport reform," Mr Nye continued.

"I am concerned that the National Transport Commission (NTC) and other government agencies are making decisions on Australia's future transport networks without taking into account the costs it will impose on people's safety, the liveability of our local communities and the state of our environment," Mr Nye said.

"We want all sides of politics to commit to the Productivity Commission reporting on the social costs and benefits associated with all modes of land transportation.

"Australians deserve a transport system that is not only efficient but safe and sustainable. Failing to consider these important issues would be irresponsible" concluded Mr Nye.

[ozbob]

Brisbanetimes --> Horror Gateway crash: eight hospitalised

Enough!

[ozbob]

Road trauma is breaking the nation

There are few Australians that have not felt the grief, the loss, the hopelessness, of the ongoing tragedy of the consequences of road trauma. Every day the media chronicles the sad litany.  A recent study commissioned by the Australasian Railway Association on the cost of road crashes has revealed the cost in blunt economic terms (1).  Previous estimates have been conservative underestimates; this latest rigorous systematic study has revealed the costs of road fatalities and trauma to be in the order of at least thirty five billion dollars annually.  This figure is going to increase rapidly as the road injury management costs continue to climb.  There is a much wider social cost to be added but for now let us just consider the economic impact of the road trauma.

This road trauma cost is a drain on our economy.  It is not sustainable.  It is now clear that as a nation we must move to safe sustainable transport systems for people and bulk freight.  Investment in safe public transport through infrastructure and operating subsidies actually saves money.  This is a lesson transport planners and governments everywhere must heed.  The massive expenditure on roads is leading to unmanageable cost impacts.  Investment in safe transport systems is actually saving money.  Next time you are held up at a railway crossing as a packed peak hour commuter train passes, give out three cheers.  Those passengers are saving you and Australia ultimately a lot of pain.

Rail is approximately 40 times safer than travel by car.  Travel by bus is about 10 times safer than travel by car.  It is clear that we need to start maximizing use of our rail networks, and support those networks with bus transport to feed rail stations where possible.  A major project such as the Cross River Rail Tunnel for Brisbane is actually going to return huge savings.  The tunnel is equivalent to a 30 lane road highway in terms of passenger capacity.  Why haven't we started the actual digging?

The rail network in south east Queensland is underutilised.  It is time to increase train frequency on all the major lines.  Ideally no less frequent than 15 minutes in off peak periods during the day, peak times more frequent as loadings demand.  Weekends, holidays and after 9pm at night no less frequent than 20 minutes.  Properly support the increased rail frequency with a coordinated feeder bus network.  Make travel by public transport attractive.  The present rail timetable in South East Queensland has one of the worst train frequencies in Australia and for comparable size cities worldwide.  A high frequency rail service makes bus rail connections much more functional and encourages people to get out of their cars and onto safe transport.

The social isolation of cars is something we seldom consider.  In the 1950s, family trips to visit relatives in the country or city were usually by rail, an adventure and sharing an experience with others.  There was a feeling of community and belonging and the opportunity to meet new folk.  Many encounters on public transport have endured as long lasting friendships.   The social isolation of cars is not conducive for a healthy community.  The increasing demand for anti-depressant medications for example is a sign of an increasingly unhappy nation.  Little wonder when one considers the terrifying impact of the road toll.  Regular travel by public transport is a community experience.  There is social contact and a feeling of belonging.  Most journeys by public transport involve an element of active transport, walking or perhaps a bicycle ride to and from the bus or rail stations at departure and end points of the public transport ride.  This active transport leads to healthy outcomes.  There is a reduction in obesity and diabetes, both conditions that are costly for our communities and health care.

We need roads, but we must start to correct the imbalance in funding that is road centric.  There are signs that those in government are starting to hear this message.  Recent commitments for the long overdue Petrie to Kippa-Ring railway in Queensland and the railway from Parramatta to Epping in New South Wales are very welcome. But much more needs to be done.  In south-east Queensland here are some immediate rail priorities:  extend the Gold Coast railway to Coolangatta, duplicate the Sunshine Coast line from Beerburrum to Landsborough and eventually to Nambour, full duplication of the Cleveland line beyond Manly, Coomera to Helensvale duplication, Lawnton to Petrie triplication, Kuraby to Kingston triplication, Darra to Redbank triplication, and electrification from Rosewood to Gatton.  These improvements are needed to provide the backbone of a safe sustainable public transport network for a sustainable future.

To augment the heavy rail network, bus rapid transit and light rail has its role. The Gold Coast light rail is going to herald a change in our thinking.  Modern light rail is a superb people mover.  The loss of the tram system in Brisbane in 1969 can only be described as a disaster.  If the tram system had been kept operational it would have evolved as has the tram network in Melbourne which is now the greatest tram system in the world.  However, in the years to come there will be opportunities to return modern light rail to Brisbane, and it is the Gold Coast light rail that will alert citizens to what is possible.  Continued support for active transport options is also very cost effective.  Expansions of the bicycle path network are sensible, but also improve the amenity for pedestrians, the walkers.

The most important factor in driving public transport uptake is frequency.  The train frequency can be increased very quickly.  The other projects will take a little longer.  Now is the time to start to shake off the economic straight jacket of road trauma.  We must, the costs of road trauma are breaking our nation.

Reference:

1.  Australasian Railway Association Inc  The cost of road crashes: A review of key issue   Dr Richard Tooth  http://www.ara.net.au/UserFiles/file/Publications/TheCostofRoadCrashesReport.pdf



Mr Robert Dow is the administrator and founder of RAIL Back On Track http://backontrack.org  a web based community group that advocates for sustainable transport solutions.

Robert is by profession a Medical Scientist, and is a Life member and Fellow of the Australian Institute of Medical Scientists.

[#Metro]

The forerunner to the CRR was proposed in 1970
Perth has already built their twin tunnels under the CBD; it is operational and works well.
Brisbane is still yet to figure how they are going to fund it. Its a really tight timetable.

A major project such as the Cross River Rail Tunnel for Brisbane is actually going to return huge savings.  The tunnel is equivalent to a 30 lane road highway in terms of passenger capacity.  Why haven't we started the actual digging?

[ozbob]

Minister for Police, Corrective Services and Emergency Services
The Honourable Neil Roberts
22/08/2010

Motorists urged to take care on Queensland roads

Queensland Police are urging motorists to remain vigilant and drive safely after a bad weekend on the State's roads.

Police have attended three fatal traffic crashes over the last three days with two crashes yesterday and one on Friday. Further to the deaths, several people have been seriously injured and remain in hospital.

Police Minister Neil Roberts warned drivers from becoming complacent.

"We've had a good year so far on the roads, but the last thing we want to see is a positive start go to waste," Mr Roberts said.

"Although our current road toll is significantly lower than at this time last year, it's critically important drivers continue to exercise caution."

"Every road fatality is a needless tragedy."

Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson said that traditionally more people died on Queensland roads in the second half of the year.

"I've asked all police regions to put maximum effort into keeping road trauma to a minim um for the remainder of the year.

"That means that drivers can expect high levels of enforcement of speeding and drink driving, anytime, anywhere."

"Speed, fatigue and drink driving are all common causes of traffic crashes, and motorists are being urged to take care at all times when on our roads."

"When lives are at risk, we can't afford to relax our efforts."

Police are attempting to slow the road toll by carrying out traffic operations such as Operation Stopper held in Brisbane's central business district over this weekend.

Police officers conducted 811 random breath tests (RBT's) on Friday night and 980 RBT's on Saturday night. Police were very pleased with the results with only five drivers recording a low level blood alcohol reading.

Police also caught one person for unlicenced driving, one driver for a red light offence, one person for not wearing a seatbelt, one person for disobeying an arrow, one person for a P-plate offence and five other traffic related offences were given out.

==============================================================

RIP

The road toll might be falling, but the injury toll is rising ..

[#Metro]

"When lives are at risk, we can't afford to relax our efforts."

Police are attempting to slow the road toll by carrying out traffic operations such as Operation Stopper held in Brisbane's central business district over this weekend.

Police officers conducted 811 random breath tests (RBT's) on Friday night and 980 RBT's on Saturday night. Police were very pleased with the results with only five drivers recording a low level blood alcohol reading.

Police also caught one person for unlicenced driving, one driver for a red light offence, one person for not wearing a seatbelt, one person for disobeying an arrow, one person for a P-plate offence and five other traffic related offences were given out.

How much does this cost vs a proper night PT network? Like nightlink but ALL night every night of the week?

[ozbob]

Courier Mail --> Almost 60 per cent of emergency ward patients in Australia are overweight or obese

[ozbob]

From the Brisbane mX 23rd August 2010 page 1

On ya bike, fat-city

[ozbob]

Sent to all outlets:

18th September 2010

Greetings,

Interesting article in the Fairfax media today (below).   Congestion at $10 billion dollars annually seems to be the driver for a fast rail dream.  This country is struggling to sort out its suburban/interurban systems, but good we can dream ...  The cost of road trauma is around $40 billion dollars annually and rising quickly, a much more urgent factor in driving proper utilisation of our existing and future plans for rail for passenger and freight than fast rail idolisations.

The lack of public acknowledgement of the real costs of road trauma is probably a reflection of the reluctance to rock the road lobby boat.  Very sad situation.  See Road trauma is breaking the nation http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?action=articles;sa=view;article=3

Congestion $10 billion dollars,  road trauma around $40 billion! ... it is a no-brainer why we need to move in these directions, but first we need to support our local mass transit.

Best wishes
Robert

Robert Dow
Administration RAIL Back On Track
admin@backontrack.org

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/plan-to-travel-from-melbourne-to-brisbane--with-a-bullet-20100917-15gi6.html

Plan to travel from Melbourne to Brisbane - with a bullet

Quote
lan to travel from Melbourne to Brisbane - with a bullet
September 18, 2010

The Freccia Rossa high speed train of Italian company Trenitalia will reduce the travel time from Milan to Rome to three-hour and a half to three-hour.

A high-speed train running at 350km/h between Melbourne and Brisbane is back on the political agenda with the government and opposition supporting a landmark study that calls for action to preserve land corridors to ''future proof'' the economics of the project.

The study, obtained exclusively by Fairfax Media's  The Age, argues that, at these speeds, high-speed rail becomes competitive with air travel.

The issue of a high-speed train has recently been resurrected by all sides of politics as a potential solution to Australia's crippling road congestion, which costs the country $10 billion a year. Australia's population is expected to increase to 26.7 million by 2026 and 36 million by 2056, and there is a need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The study was released jointly by AECOM, one of the world's experts on modelling fast trains for governments, and Australia's peak infrastructure lobby group, Infrastructure Partnerships Australia (IPA).

It urges the government to identify new routes and either buy the land or put in planning protections to ensure future land price increases do not make a high-speed rail network a prohibitive option.

It mentions that such a rail project would have a big impact on the taxi, airline and airport industries.

The government and opposition threw their support behind the report yesterday, and reconfirmed that a $20 million scoping study would be put out for tender.

Modelling by AECOM/IPA indicates the land corridor is worth $13.7 billion at today's prices but will balloon to $57 billion by 2030. "Failure to protect these corridors now will increase their cost in the future and could put a complete network out of Australia's financial capacity," the report warns.

Proposals to build a high-speed rail have been under consideration by the private sector since the mid-1980s. To date, no proposal has proven commercially viable.

This report outlines an indicative corridor where the stations would be, but suggests that engineering studies would be required to determine the exact location of the new routes.

It recommends the corridor be built incrementally and shared with different types of infrastructure such as water, electricity and the national broadband network to make it financially viable and strategic.

"Travelling between Sydney and Melbourne - currently the third busiest air corridor in the world - could be reduced to less than three hours,'' says the report.

High-speed rail is being rolled out in countries across Europe, the US and Asia as a way to link up major cities, reduce congestion and battle pollution. France, Spain, Japan, Taiwan, Britain and Portugal are just a few of the countries with high-speed rail. China and Germany have high-speed rails under construction.

A key recommendation of the report is that the construction phase begins in five years on an incremental basis, starting with Sydney to Newcastle or Canberra, on the basis that it avoids the $15 billion cost of developing a new airport to service Sydney.

Infrastructure Minister Anthony Albanese said the study was a valuable contribution, particularly its emphasis on preserving infrastructure corridors, which was consistent with the government's strategic planning approach.

"Federal Labor is investing $20 million on the high-speed rail study for the eastern seaboard," he said. "This builds on federal Labor's record investment in rail during its first term, which saw a tenfold increase in rail compared to the former coalition government."

Shadow finance minister Andrew Robb said yesterday the study hit the nail on the head in terms of the need to consider and resolve the role of high-speed rail.

"Australia must avoid the mistakes of the past, where insufficient long-term planning saw the loss of land that should have been protected for rail and road projects, which has meant that expensive and complex tunnelling has been the only option to get critical projects delivered," he said.

The report forecasts an 86 per cent chance that Australia will need a very fast train by 2030, rising to 93 per cent by 2050.

The east coast of Australia accounts for most of the country's GDP, 75 per cent of employment and 63 per cent of economic activity and houses 60 per cent of the population, as well as bearing most of the national congestion concerns.

IPA chairman Mark Birrell, who is also a director of the Government's Infrastructure Australia, said Australia had been down the path of very fast trains before but had got nowhere because planning had not translated into action. "This time Australia needs to settle on and protect an alignment and begin to incrementally deliver an east coast fast-rail network."

"Even though it is a long-term project, we need to start in-depth planning and protect the corridors to ensure the network remains an economically viable option for the future.''

AECOM has been involved in some of the more high-profile high-speed rail projects globally, including France's TGV and Britain's HS2 project.

[ozbob]

"Here we have a family that's been obliterated ... "  RIP.

Sydney Morning Herald click here!

... "I've been doing crash for 23 years and to the motoring public: you've won, you've beaten me. I have no idea what we need to do to get the message across to motorists to drive within their capabilities and take time." ...

As a community we need to stand up to Government and demand that a safe rail network is put back into place. This gives folks options other than the gauntlet on the roads. This is something we can do.

Click --> Road trauma is breaking the nation