A new transport minister

The re-election of of Anna Bligh has brought a change of the deckchairs in the ministerial seating.

Rachel Nolan is the new Minister for Transport.

Rachel has been a MP since 2001 and has a seat in Ipswich. Her electorate webpage is here: http://www.rachelnolanmp.com/default.asp

Rachel likes driving cars, and has managed to gather five speeding tickets since being elected to Parliament.

On March 29 the following story was posted:

Queensland's new Transport Minister Rachel Nolan admitted she has received five speeding tickets since entering Parliament in 2001.

Ms Nolan was sworn in as the Minister on Thursday.

She says she lost one point from her licence last month when she was caught speeding.

Ms Nolan received two speeding fines in 2004, one in 2003 and one in 2001, and has lost nine points from her licence over eight years.

In a statement Ms Nolan says she regrets the speeding offences and she will make an extra effort to drive safely.

This story can be found here:
http://www.ourbrisbane.com/news/articles/2117018.5-speeding-fines-for-new-qld-transport-minister


Paul Lucas, who has also admitted to speeding, explains that speeders are only human in a Courier Mail story here:
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,25257468-952,00.html

The Cycle Promotion Fund has information on safe road use, and warns cyclists against riding too fast for the conditions:
http://www.cyclingpromotion.com.au/images/stories/factsheets/BFA_Fct_Sht_Safety_Web.pdf

A Queensland Transport survey tells us that 54% of car drivers believe our roads are far too unsafe for cyclists. Could speeding drivers play a role there?
http://www.transport.qld.gov.au/resources/file/eb91df059858d06/Pdf_rs_share_the_road_pub_ed.pdf

Watch the QT 'share the road' safety video here:
http://www.transport.qld.gov.au/resources/file/eb91d10597e8528/Mpg_rs_share_the_road.mpeg

Read what Queensland Transport say about speeding in their 'Slow down stupid' campaign here:
http://www.transport.qld.gov.au/Home/Safety/Road/Campaigns/Speeding_campaign

Anti-speeding campaigns

Many people believe speeding is not dangerous and they can do it 'safely'. These people are kidding themsleves.

In 2007 speed-related crashes represented more than 25 per cent of Queensland's road toll. Losing almost 100 lives in Queensland every year due to speeding is simply unacceptable.

In an effort to slow down speeding motorists and save lives, Queensland Transport runs anti-speeding campaigns to remind drivers of the real dangers of speeding and the potential consequences.
Current campaign
The ‘Slow down stupid’ anti-speeding campaign launched in November 2008.

The campaign reminds the main culprits of speed related crashes, males aged 17 to 39 years, of the most important reasons to slow down—if not for their own lives and wellbeing, then for their family, friends and loved ones.

The first phase of the campaign features two television commercials, outdoor billboards, and online advertising.

View the Queensland Transport 'Slow down stupid' billboard, depicting a young woman, presumably dead, the result of a 'human error', driving too fast:
http://www.transport.qld.gov.au/resources/file/eb9c784d69fd0dc/Pdf_slow_down_stupid_billboard.pdf

Further information, from Queensland Transport, on the folly and dangers of speeding can be found here:
http://www.transport.qld.gov.au/Home/Safety/Road/Speeding/

'Is speeding really dangerous?' is answered by Queensland Transport here:
http://www.transport.qld.gov.au/Home/Safety/Road/Speeding/Speeding_really_dangerous

But here is the official Queensland Transport answer if you don't have time to read the link article, "There is simply no question of whether speeding is dangerous. It is a well researched fact."

Read the Queensland Transport road fatality figures for 2008 here:
http://www.transport.qld.gov.au/resources/file/eb999f416b9b266/Pdf_feature_article_year_in_review_jan2009.pdf

During 2008, 140 fatalities (or 42.8%) were drivers, 79
fatalities (or 24.2%) were passengers, 72 fatalities (or
22.0%) were motorcyclists, 30 fatalities (or 9.2%) were
pedestrians and six fatalities (or 1.8%) were bicyclists.


The last word goes to an article from Australian Cyclist:
http://www.australiancyclist.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=2822

In the 15 years from 1991 to 2005 very few cyclist crashes involved the death of more than one cyclist and 90 per cent of cyclist deaths resulted from a collision between their bicycle and a motor vehicle. Death from striking fixed objects was just four per cent. Since 1990 the largest proportions of cyclist deaths have occurred on roads where the speed limit is 60 km/h: 55 per cent in 1991-95, 42 per cent in 1996-00 and 35 per cent in 2001-05. The fall in 2001-5, is due to the introduction of 50 km/h speed zones in many Australian cities and towns and 18 per cent of cyclist deaths occurred in these zones in these years. That only 20 per cent of cyclist deaths occurred in 100 km/h speed zones may be surprising but these roads make up only a small percentage of the roads used by cyclists and, as the serious injury studies currently underway reinforce, there is a direct relationship between severity of injury and speed of impact.