A RIVERINA driving instructor has joined calls to raise the Hume Freeway’s speed limit to 130km/h.
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The debate over the highway’s speed limit has been reignited after outgoing NRMA Western NSW director Graham Blight came out in support of raising the speed limit on the highway yesterday.
Riverina Driving Academy owner Robert Buckley believes it is a good idea, pointing to the presence of 130km/h stretches of highway in the Northern Territory with low fatality rates.
“I think the road can handle it,” he said.
“It’s a dual highway from Sydney to Melbourne now.”
The issue for Mr Buckley isn’t speed, but drivers concentrating on the road without succumbing to the gamut of distractions in present-day cars — from screaming children in the back to mobile phones and DVD players.
“You’re going to have people who don’t focus on what they’re doing,” he said.
“The cars can handle (130km/h), the roads can handle it.”
The only problem Mr Buckley can see is the disparity that would be created between provisional and full licence drivers.
P1 Provisional drivers are limited to a maximum speed of 90km/h, which would be 40km/h below the signposted limit if it were to be increased.
A former road safety manager for NSW’s Western region, Lex Stewart, is also backing a 130km/h limit for the Hume Highway.
During his tenure at the then-Roads and Traffic Authority, Mr Stewart said he was responsible for upping the Newell Highway’s speed limit to 110km/h in 1992, and when that happened, “the road toll didn’t go up and civilisation didn’t end”.
“You’re never going to get a world without horror plane, train or car smashes,” he said.
“My professional assessment is that it could be safely done.”
Chairman of the Staysafe Committee, Greg Aplin, said it was not the first time the idea had been floated but said it would not work for a number of reasons.
He said a Stay Safe report on speed zones and the demerit point system determined it would not be possible.
He said the report highlighted changing road conditions, like intersections and winding roads, as among reasons the speed limit could not be raised.