Latest figures from the Australian Roads Assessment Program (AusRAP) have revealed that only 0.5 per cent of the 1,317km of roads across the Hunter and Central Coast regions which were assessed achieved the highest safety rating of five stars.
Across the Hunter Central Coast network six per cent received a four-star rating, 47 per cent received a three-star rating and 30 per cent of the network received a two-star rating.
Alarmingly, 17 per cent received the lowest one-star rating.
AusRAP is an internationally recognised road safety rating assessment system which operates in more than 100 countries.
The most current AusRAP is at least two years old, highlighting the importance of the Australian Automobile Association’s (AAA) campaign to make road safety data readily available to the public says NRMA spokesperson Peter Khoury.
Khoury said the figures should concern policymakers.
“Australians will contribute more than $23B to the Federal Government through the fuel excise this year alone – they have earnt the right to drive on safe roads and to have real-time data and information on the safety features of the roads they drive on every day,” Khoury said.
“As the Australian Government looks to re-focus its infrastructure funding priorities there are two critical statistics it must keep in mind – only 0.3 per cent of the state’s roads is deemed to be truly safe and the national road toll is seven per cent higher than the same time last year.
“More of the fuel excise must go back into building safer roads and all available data on road safety must be made publicly available in real-time, because if we don’t have a clear and current grasp on the problems how do we expect, as a nation to fix them?”