Sydney is a city crippled with traffic and a new coalition of political parties aims to fix it.
SYDNEY. 10 March 2019 /AAPNewswire/ -- The Advance Australia Party has joined forces with the Motorists Party to do something about the congestion and poor conditions of NSW roads.
Advance and the Motorists will field 15 candidates for the Legislative Council State elections on March 23 and aims to win a significant proportion of upper house seats.
"Sydney needs a revolution on the roads" says Mr Ian Chandler, Motorists party leader. "People are sick of both the congestion and the number of people killed on our roads each year, yet it keeps getting worse. The only new roads we get are toll roads, but nothing is being done for Sydney's free roads other than eating into them for bike lanes and light rail. Yet more and more cars are being heaped on daily. Something needs to be done as travel times on Sydney's roads are at an all-time low and our road toll continues to be atrocious".
Advance and the Motorists have launched a range of policies aimed at
fixing Sydney and rural NSW traffic issues including upgrading Sydney's free roads instead of just adding more toll roads, extending Sydney's retail hours to 24hrs so we're not all on the roads at the same time, a new car on old car off policy, electric vehicle incentives, basic safety upgrades to Sydney and rural roads, upgrades to public transport to make traveling by public transport an attractive alternative to using a car, and sorting out the mess of Sydney's light rail.
"Car parking is a real issue too" says Mr Chandler. "The cost of parking continues to soar. Parking your car in the CBD costs more per hour than most people make, yet the building of new car parks is actively discouraged by councils. And, should you choose to park in meter parking and overstay, you don't just have to pay the extra parking cost but hit with a fine of over $100! Councils see issuing fines these days as an entrenched source of their revenue and run infringement issuing as a business".
Motorist are constantly under attack instead of being serviced properly according to Advance.
"We are taxed in every direction from registration costs, fuel excise, stamp duties, road tolls, import duties, car parking levies, and the list goes on" according to Advance Australia Party leader Mr Ray Brown. "The only safety measures being upgraded are the ever increasing fines such as speeding and red-light camera offences. Something more intelligent and in the interests of motorists rather than governments needs to be done"
According to Advance the poor management of our roads is a major factor in our road toll. Currently over 1,100 people a year die in Australia on our roads.
"What is crazy is that since the NSW government introduced lockout laws over two deaths at Kings Cross that virtually wiped out Sydney's live music scene and night time economy there have been enough people killed or injured on NSW roads alone to fill both the proposed new stadiums at Olympic Park and the Sydney Football Stadium" Says Mr Chandler. "We need to stop building stadiums and use the money to build hospitals to put all the people who are injured on our roads. Or better still, spend the money fixing road safety and motorists won't have to go to hospital in the first place".
According to Advance improving and freeing up Sydney's choked roadways will increase the movement of people around the city, both for Sydneysiders and visitors and help see Sydney once again become Australia's leading city both economically and for liveability.
