National Motorists Association Australia Inc.

PRESS RELEASE

16th January, 2000

Motorist group labels transport minister "irresponsible"

The SA Liaison Officer of the National Motorists Association Australia Inc., Mr. John Bannon, today accused Transport Minister Laidlaw of being "irresponsible" for conveying the message that drink driving is no more dangerous than slight breaches of the speed limit. Mr Bannon expressed concerns that this will lead to worsening attitudes toward drink driving.

"It stands to reason that equating slight breaches of the speed limit when it is safe to do so with a dangerous behaviour such as drink driving will only encourage acceptance of the dangerous behaviour". He said. "It is totally irresponsible for the Transport Minister to make the assertions. She has repeatedly argued that the risks associated with going a humble 10kph above the speed limit equates with a belly full of booze" he asserted.

Although Ms Laidlaw's comments were based on an Adelaide University report Mr Bannon stated that "she should know better". "Since almost everyone is breaching the speed limits and hardly anyone is driving drunk there would be carnage on the roads if the risks really were equal. Multiply the number of crashes caused by drunk drivers by a factor of ten and you can see how high our road toll would be if the finding meshed with real life." he said.

An Australian Institute of Criminology survey found that almost twice as many Australian men admitted to drink driving as did so five years ago. The proportion of men admitting to drinking and driving is now one in four in major cities. In rural areas one in five men admit to driving after drinking alcohol.

Mr Bannon is adamant that this year will see an explosion of membership in the motorists' association. "I am confident that, as awareness of the existence of a motoring organisation in this country increases, we will see a huge increase in numbers. Motorists are sick of being treated like wallets on wheels because of the lack of representation. For a small fraction of the price of a speeding ticket they can fight back and give themselves a voice. We hope that by the end of this year we can push authorities to back off from the revenue raising and to use police to promote road safety instead. This will substantially reduce the road toll." he asserted.

Mr Bannon has recently replaced Mr Wood as SA Liaison Officer. NMAA Inc. Secretary Mr Wright indicated that he believed that Mr Bannon's job as an indigenous affairs consultant will inevitably mean that there will be an influx of indigenous South Australians into the organisation. "Mr Bannon is keen to promote the organisation. We anticipate that our organisation will get mentioned in many social conversations with people during his extensive travelling around his state. The result will be an increase in indigenous membership which will probably spread into other states as indigenous motorists tell members of their extended families that there is an organisation fighting for their interests. The culture of indigenous Australians helps them to understand the importance of standing by your group. They will therefore be even quicker to join than other Australians." he predicted.

END

For an indication that the Adelaide University study referred to in this release didn't even stand up to peer review see Queensland Transport website's "Does the crash rate really double every 5km/h above 60km/h?". The latter paper may be too open to finding a high crash risk for exceeding the speed limit. However at least it highlights the risk exageration of the original study.

For Comment, please contact:

James Wright (mob) 0403-066986 Email: aussiemotorists@justicemail.com