by Will Devlin

With road traffic accidents in our area mounting, virtually by the week, I wanted to start some informed debate insofar as road safety in the area is concerned. 

I have three main areas of concern.  

1.  Traffic 'control' at both the Old Port Road and Port Douglas Road intersections with Captain Cook Highway;   

2.  The development of housing blocks on what is essentially semi-rural hobby farm lots at the area formerly known as Heritage Rise, off Captain Cook Highway; and 

3.  The speed limit through the area bounded by, say, Crees Creek and the Big 4 Caravan Park turn off on the Captain Cook Highway.  

My argument, as you will see, is based on the oft-quoted statistic of the Queensland Police Service, and therefore, one assumes, adopted by the Government and Councils of the day, that "each fatality on Queensland roads costs the community $2,000,000".  That's right, $2 million dollars!

My experience indicates that that figure is certainly no exaggeration.  

TRAFFIC CONTROL  

It's my view that the construction of roundabouts at both access/egress roads to/from Port Douglas are essential in ensuring both a free-flow of traffic and a minimum disruption through traffic crashes that have become all-too-commonplace in the past few years. 

Some arguments have expressed the fact that "traffic controls discriminate against the majority because of the transgressions of the few".  And that it is true.

Indeed, it's my argument that ALL traffic controls, including traffic lights, stop signs and speed limits are in place because "the few" can make life on the roads extraordinarily dangerous for the majority. 

Roundabouts of necessity slow traffic down; the numbers of European, American and Asian visitors to our region - those with perhaps only a rudimentary appreciation of our road rules - are surely enough to at least encourage debate on this topic.  

HERITAGE RISE  

Readers will have seen the relatively-sudden appearance of houses and other edifices on the blocks of land which abut the western side of the Highway just north of the Port Douglas Road intersection. 

Now, while no one wants to deny property owners their piece of paradise, the Council/Road Safety Authorities appear to have been bereft of much common sense in allowing individual block owners/the developers, to build on land that requires access to and egress from Captain Cook Highway, within a signed 100km/h zone, without so much as a 'run-off' to allow the property owners/visitors to gradually slow and turn, whilst allowing other traffic to continue on the journey. 

One particular driveway abuts the Highway at 90 degrees at what I describe as almost a 'blind bend' and which, in my view, is a crash site waiting for the stars to align.  So, the access/egress has to be realigned, or the speed limit has to be reduced.  

SPEED LIMIT  

North Queenslanders, like everybody else in a rush-obsessed Australia, seem to take great comfort in the fact that they can "get there at the last minute" so speeding on the Highway is a constant menace. 

Speed, like alcohol consumption and several other factors, is a major contributor to road crashes, therefore, by extension, to road deaths.  And remember, each road death "costs the community $2 million". 

So my view is that the speed limit, north- and south-bound on the Captain Cook Highway, ought to be reduced as follows:

• to 70 km/h from Crees Creek to just north of Old Port Road for south-bound traffic, then 60 km/h until south of bridge abutting Teamsters Park at Craiglie;
• then to 80 km/h until just south of the Big 4 Caravan Park turn-off;
• to 60 km/h from just south of the Craiglie Bridge through to Old Port Road for northbound traffic;
• then to 70 km/h to Crees Creek.

Naturally, traffic at the roundabouts would need to slow accordingly.    

The benefits are manifest:  

• safety through the relevant intersections;
• a world-wide recognition of 'give way' at a roundabout';
• a more reasonable speed through the Craiglie Industrial area which incorporates a busy bottle shop and Service Station;
• a decent speed on that portion of road between the Big 4 turn off and Craiglie, an area where the road surface, in my view, is neither wide enough nor of sound enough construction to warrant the current 100 km/h speed limit;
• safety for people using the driveways at Heritage Rise as well as those continuing north and south.

The Council has been quoted as saying a roundabout at the Captain Cook Highway/Port Douglas Road intersection would cost "about $400,000".  I can't see it myself, but if two add up to $800,000, there's still a saving - A SAVING! - of $1.2 million against the possibility of a fatality in the area.

What do you think? Do you agree with Will? Let us know below.