Moggill Road and Witton Road Intersection
Friday, 12 February 2010 11:09
Adjournment
Moggill Road
Dr FLEGG (Moggill—LNP) (8.50 pm): It seems that, when I get up to speak in this House, manytimes I am making reference to Moggill Road and the problems that it creates for the residents of the western suburbs of Brisbane.
Last Wednesday, 3 February—the very day I placed an article in our local Westside News that the government was seeking some funding under the Safer Roads Sooner Program—yet another accident occurred at the intersection of Moggill Road and Witton Road. It was 5.30 pm and the outbound traffic was absolutely chockers. A car turning right into Witton Road, which does not have a right-hand turn lane despite 44,000 cars a day going down this stretch of road, was flagged through and a motorcyclist coming up the inside outbound lane was hit and seriously injured. Inquiries of the local police at Indooroopilly reveal that this is the fourth police reported accident since only September last year. One accident at that intersection involved one of our senior police officers from the Indooroopilly station.
This is an intersection on one of the busiest roads in Brisbane that stands as a disgrace to this government. I do appreciate that after my years of lobbying about this intersection the government has finally sought to get some funding under Safer Roads Sooner, but that is not enough. This intersection with the numerous accidents, not all of which are reported to the police, is a death trap. It is on a road that is state controlled, that is exceptionally busy and congested, where traffic banks up behind cars attempting to do a sudden right-hand turn to try to get out of that lane. Where else do we have 44,000 cars a day travelling and the right-hand lane has cars turning right with no right-hand turn lane? To make it worse, in the left-hand lane there is a bus stop, so at times this road can be reduced to just one inbound lane.
I sincerely hope the Safer Roads Sooner program funds a desperately needed safety upgrade. I would say to this government that whether or not there are funds available under Safer Roads Sooner it needs to fix this problem. It should not be a case of, ‘We are just waiting for money.’ This is one of Brisbane’s traffic black spots. It is a nightmare for congestion. It is congested every single morning, but it also poses a major safety risk. There are 44,000 cars a day travelling this road. Just fix it!