3AW: Three steps to better Melbourne roads. Matt Cram 18 November, 2014
3AW DRIVE and BREAKFAST: New freeways are no silver bullet when it comes to making our roads safer or less congested, says a leading transport experts.
A large chunk of Melbourne’s road system ground to a halt yesterday after three people were killed in two accidents on major arterials.
It happened amid a state election campaign dominated by debate around the Napthine government’s East-West Link, which Labor opposes, and in a year with an elevated road toll.
But professor John Stanley, from Sydney University’s Institute of Transport and Logistics, told Ross and John Melbourne’s traffic woes require a change of thinking.
And his sentiments were echoed by the TAC’s top road safety expert.
“The way they’re dealing with these kinds of problems in cities like Vancouver and Toronto is they’re trying to design their cities so you can undertake more activities close to where you live,” Mr Stanley said Tuesday morning.
“That’s something we haven’t focused on nearly enough in Melbourne.
“We’re very much focused on dealing with traffic problems as traffic problems.
“Building new roads increases traffic.”
