School Zone Flashing Lights Contract
Page: 3154
The Hon. GREG PEARCE: My question is directed to the Minister for Roads. Why has the Minister neglected to announce the name of the company that was awarded the tender for the school flashing lights program, particularly given that he has announced when the rollout of flashing lights will occur, given the specifics of the technologies being considered and provided a detailed list of the first 100 school zones to receive flashing lights? Will the Minister now inform the House of the name of the business that was awarded the contract for the flashing lights program?
The Hon. ERIC ROOZENDAAL: I thank the Hon. Greg Pearce for his question on this very important initiative. Earlier in the year the Government announced our school zone safety package, which, as honourable members will remember, is an extensive package designed to improve and enhance school zone safety around the State. On Sunday I announced the rollout of new flashing lights technology to 100 school zone sites. Road safety experts according to safety criteria determined the sites. The plan follows the "Evaluation of flashing lights in 40 km/h school speed zones" report, which outlined the findings from a trial of flashing lights at 43 schools. The report found that flashing lights were effective in reducing vehicle speed around schools during the operation of 40 kilometres an hour speed zones, but that a small but significant speed reduction of between three kilometres and five kilometres could be expected at certain sites fitted with flashing lights signs compared with conventional signage. However, the operational performance of flashing lights units was considered to be poor despite trialling three different styles of flashing lights from different providers.
The message from the evaluation was that existing flashing lights technology could reduce speeds but is not sufficiently reliable. For this reason I instructed the Roads and Traffic Authority [RTA] to call for expressions of interest to develop a new electronic school safety alert system incorporating state-of-the-art features such as back-to-base fault reporting. Applications closed in July, and the RTA has assessed the proposals put forward. As I announced on Sunday, three types of electronic warning devices have been selected for school zones, with 100 schools to be upgraded by the end of the year. We will expedite those devices to the 100 schools of priority as identified through the road safety criteria determined by road safety experts.
Of the three different technologies, one sort is a high-visibility flashing school zone sign with a flashing "40" built into the device. It will be situated on the side of the road. The second technology is flashing speed warning signs that will hang off masts suspended above the road directly in the line of sight of motorists. The third technology is high-visibility lights to be built into the road pavement within a school zone. This is similar to the technology used on airport runways and is highly visible to drivers. We will rely on road safety experts to determine the most appropriate technology for each individual school zone.
This program will be a major enhancement to school zone safety, which has always been a priority of this Government. The rollout of the 100 high-visibility technology systems will cost $7.2 million and will be funded from the RTA's road safety budget and revenue from speed cameras that will be situated in school zones, as was announced earlier this year. A panel that includes the NRMA will evaluate the effectiveness of this technology during the first year of operation. This work was done through a notification of intent process, which complied with all appropriate probity and procurement guidelines. In addition, the process has been subject to scrutiny by a qualified independent probity auditor employed specifically to oversee it. My advice is that the RTA is finalising the commercial arrangements with proponents. Once those commercial arrangements are finalised the RTA will release to the community the name of all successful proponents.
The Hon. GREG PEARCE: I ask a supplementary question. Will the Minister for Roads elucidate his response by answering the question and telling the House who was awarded the contract?
The Hon. ERIC ROOZENDAAL: I feel sorry for the Hon. Greg Pearce, who did not listen to my answer. The contracts have not yet been finalised. We have finalised the technology and the rollout timetable. The RTA is finalising the commercial arrangements and, as I said, when that is done we will release the proponents' names immediately.
[Interruption]
The PRESIDENT: Order! I remind members that this interchange is not being recorded by Hansard. I will wait until there is silence before I give the call to a member to ask the next question.