Fatal crashes on Picton Rd have cost the economy at least $50 million over the past decade, new national data has revealed.A report released this month by the Federal Government's Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE), puts a $2.67 million price tag on the cost of a road death, taking into account factors such as workplace and household losses, insurance and medical bills, road delays and legal costs.With the death count on Picton Rd between Mt Ousley Rd and the Hume Hwy standing at 19 over the past decade, the economic cost of fatalities has hit $50.73 million.
EDITORIAL: Financial cost adds to pain of Picton RdFigures obtained by the Mercury also reveal that Picton Rd has been the scene of 308 crashes over the past decade, 127 of them resulting in injuries.At conservative estimates, if victims from half of those crashes were hospitalised, the economic cost of their injuries would exceed $18 million.Combined with the cost of non-injury crashes, the total cost of accidents on Picton Rd since 2000 could top $70 million, according to the BITRE costings.While the State and Federal governments have committed $15 million in road safety upgrades over the next three years, the new figures have prompted calls for more money to be spent along the dangerous route.NSW Nationals leader and Opposition roads spokesman Andrew Stoner said the data showed the investment would not properly address Picton Rd's shortcomings."The Government's treatment is paltry and it by no means removes the risk of severe accident or fatalities on Picton Rd," he said."It leaves plenty of opportunity for very severe accidents even after the money has been spent."And it should have happened before now - it took so many deaths before they just did the basics."While conceding the schedule of roadworks would go some way to curbing fatalities, Mr Stoner said the Coalition would seek to turn the mostly single-lane road into a divided dual carriageway if it won the next election."I can't give any commitments until we see the state of the budget, but that should be the long-term plan," he said.University of Wollongong transport expert Dr Philip Laird said big-ticket upgrades on routes such as the Pacific Hwy and the M5 had left gaping holes in the state's roads budget, which meant lower profile routes such as Picton Rd routinely lost out.He criticised the State Government's decision this week to scrap the M4 toll and said motorists should be charged more to use NSW roads if works such as those needed on Picton Rd were ever to see the light of day.NSW Roads Minister David Campbell said the impact of any road death went well beyond the economic cost, adding the Government did "everything it can with the money it has" to improve road safety.Drivers also had a role to play in keeping themselves and other motorists safe by adhering to the speed limit and driving to the road conditions, he said.Transport Workers Union Wollongong and South Coast sub-branch secretary Richard Olsen said projected increases in truck movements indicated a need for greater investment."You could easily triple the amount of money allocated to the road and still not get where we need to be," he said.
