Steve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to highlight the real and urgent need for traffic lights or other traffic controls to be installed at the intersection of Africaine Road and Tapleys Hill Road in Glenelg in my electorate. This intersection will be a major exit point for Glenelg and Glenelg North residents exiting the peninsula during the one-year construction period of the new, federally funded King Street Bridge. With the exit from the peninsula falling on the northern side of the suburb, many residents exiting need to turn right onto Tapleys Hill Road to access their shops, services and other major roads. However, turning right from Africaine Road into Tapleys Hill Road is fraught with difficulty and can be extremely dangerous.

Tapleys Hill Road is a notoriously busy major road with speed limits of 80 kilometres per hour in some parts. It is also a transport route for medium and heavy vehicles. The main dangers are not only the speed of the traffic along Tapleys Hill Road but the low visibility that drivers turning right out of Africaine Road have in both directions because of the curvature of the road. There is also limited space in the centre of the road to cross halfway and then wait safely for the traffic to clear on the other side of the road before continuing. The absence of a left turn lane out of Africaine Road also causes problems, as drivers waiting to turn left must queue behind those who are forced to wait a considerable time for a safe gap in the traffic to turn right.

These issues were highlighted most recently by an accident involving a constituent of mine who lives on the peninsula, Mr Peter Bijok, just weeks ago. He was a passenger in a car which crashed into a taxi when it tried to turn out of Africaine Road. Fortunately, Peter was okay, but I am deeply concerned that we do not have any more major accidents, fatalities or serious injuries. That is why I am 100 per cent behind my constituent’s call for traffic lights to avert such a disaster—or some sort of traffic control in that area.

I have received many letters, phone calls and emails to my office in recent weeks in support of the proposal. And I have been working hard to ensure that the City of Holdfast Bay, along with the state government, which shares responsibility for this issue, listen to us. There is nothing more important to me than ensuring all levels of government take responsibility for the safety of their people, and this is one issue which I will continue to fight for on behalf of all my constituents.

I have recently had a meeting with the office of the state minister for transport, Mr Patrick Conlon, who have assured me that they will work closely with us and the residents to try and do all that they can to come up with some sort of traffic control management in that area. I met with the local council last week. We had a discussion about how we could work this and go forward to ensure that we come up with a good solution that will service the people of Glenelg North when they are using Africaine Road onto Tapleys Hill Road while the federally funded King Street Bridge is being built.