TWENTY people have died in car accidents on Picton Road since 2000. Ten of them were in the past two years.
More than 160 crashes have been reported to police along the same stretch of road in that time and last week, a man in his 30s died when his Daewoo sedan veered onto the wrong side of the road at Wilton and collided head-on with a blue Holden Commodore, injuring its 39-year-old male driver.
The crash took place less than two kilometres from where five members of the same family, including a three-month-old baby, were killed when their car and a truck crashed head-on in December.
Cr Michael Banasik said Wollondilly Shire Council had lobbied for improvements to the road for many years.
``We need an an urgent meeting with the state Minister for Roads and the federal Minister for Transport to get something done,'' he said. ``There's just been too many [deaths].
``And it's going to get worse with more cargo coming from the expansion of Port Kembla and extra coal loaders expected on the road. We need a commitment from the State and Federal governments for some urgent funding.''
NSW Transport Minister David Campbell said he would meet with the council and police if asked.
``It [Picton Road] is an important freight route and around 14,000 vehicles use the road each day,'' he said. ``That is an acceptable level of traffic for the route. As on all roads, I urge motorists to travel safely, to the conditions and within the speed limit.''
An extra 35,000 truck movements are expected on the road, to move car imports to and from Sydney, once the Port Kembla expansion is complete.
In August 2008, Wollondilly Cr Judy Hannan and the police voiced concerns about the increasing number of heavy vehicles going to and from the port.
At the time a police spokesman said they had contacted the RTA and ``were concerned about the impact that [the extra truck movements] will have on traffic accidents and potential fatalities''.
Since then, eight more people have been killed on the road.
Mr Campbell said this week the State Government would continue its works program to ensure Picton Road was a safe and reliable transport link.
``Last year the NSW Government began a $12 million program of safety improvements for Picton Road to address the most common types of crashes along this busy road,'' he said.
``The State Government has spent more than $7 million on road improvement projects on Picton Road since 2003, including $3.5 million in road surfacing and pavement works and over $3 million in other road safety projects.''
The program includes improvements to line markings, medians, road shoulders, curves, surfaces, warning signs and police enforcement bays.
Last month, Australian Road Safety Foundation convener Mark Arena said the latest improvements to the road did not go far enough.
He called for new signs warning motorists of the dangers as well as speed cameras and median barriers.
``Without median barriers the risk of head-on collisions is very high because of the nature of the curves in the road,'' he said.
``Median barriers have been very effective on (Mt Ousley Road), preventing almost all head-on collisions. They're not very expensive to fit them, at about $400 per metre.''
The Transport Workers Union has called for dual lanes each way along Picton Road - either separated or with a concrete barrier in the centre - to avoid head-on crashes. In December the union's Wollongong and South Coast sub-branch secretary Richard Olsen said the number of trucks already using the road meant it outranked even the Princes Highway in terms of potential dangers.
Asked to estimate what contributed to crashes on the road, Mr Olsen said ``driver error 30 per cent, the road 70 per cent''.
Mr Arena said Picton Road crashes could be reduced by 75 per cent if the speed limit was just 10km/h slower. He said the 100km/h speed limit was no longer safe.
``Twenty or 30 years ago when Picton Road had a low volume of traffic, 100km/h may have been appropriate then,'' he said.
``It is no longer appropriate.''
Camden crime manager Detective Inspector Paul Albury said extra police cars from commands across the south-west region were now helping patrol Picton Road and 140 traffic infringement notices had been issued on the road in the past month.
What should be done to fix Picton Road? Is the State Government response good enough? Post a comment below.
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