What we're talking about

Durkim on New Zealand Gangs Mm, yeah... Real funny, Randhil... more
Kayli on The Boats God help me, I put aside a whole afteroonn to figure this out. more
Raynes on Tax and Pollution Until I found this I thoguht I'd have to spend the day inside. more
James Brown on Mark Latham Mark, you must fell as if you are pushing it uphill, but you are the hope of the side. Keep it up! more
Michael on Halal certification The Halal Choices website is http://www.halalchoices.com.au/product_lists.htmlIt lists all the products that have been ... more
a barker on A few facts on illegal boat people We are the Lucky Country, or are we?.15 years ago maybe.How many Indonesian Officials are taking a a bribe from the people ... more
Robin on The Boats Hey,Thanks! Great post you have written on "The Boats ".Really I can say that your post is very informative, I'll come ... more
dan on A few facts on illegal boat people From what i can see if we dont do something about this flood gate issue,we will have the same nonsense thats happening over ... more
Randhil on New Zealand Gangs This info is the cat's pajmaas! more
Keshawn on CMC Complaint into Queensland Health That's rlelay shrewd! Good to see the logic set out so well. more
howard on Learning from one another? We are such a politically correct and multiculturally sensitive country Islamists are flourishing here. Just as they ... more
PP on Halal certification Thank you for the Halal Choices and the info about Coles - I will not be purchasing meat from Coles henceforth. In the UK it ... more
PP on Halal certification Thank you for the Halal Choices and the info about Coles - I will not be purchasing meat from Coles henceforth. In the UK it ... more
anne white on Halal certification A website that lists all Australian food products that are halal is, HALAL CHOICES.Also I phoned COLES (1800 061 562) and ... more
john on The Taxi Industry No one have the right to do anything they dont want.. you want to drive cabs do it you are not force to do something you do ... more
Diana on Halal certification I just found out about this today! Does anyone know how to get a list of products bearing this logo so we can boycott them? more
lol on New Zealand Gangs lol... this isnt good at all more
Ann on Support our Diggers Is it possible to buy this sticker? I'm sure any number of people would be proud to support our diggers by displaying the ... more
Mimosa on Smith with PM Gillard You mean I don't have to pay for expert adcvie like this anymore?! more
figsen/hypolgirl on Anna Bligh as President Hope you're checking this out Wobblyone. Your comment is one of the cleverist/funniest I have read. Couldn't stop laughing. ... more

This Traffic!

Posted by: Michael Smith | 29 June, 2009 - 2:22 PM

I am so far beyond believing things that most politicians say.

How good an example did Stephen Robertson make last week. The government does a lousy job in managing water infrastructure – so they set up a board, SEQ Water – the same old problems happen – but Robertson gets the chance to say the board faces the sack if it doesn’t lift its game.

Isn’t that great if you’re Stephen Robertson? What do we have ministers for? What does he do? Walk around with a knowing look saying “the board has to do much better.”

Well they did it again on the weekend. We all know traffic’s congested. Until this year’s budget we used to get figures that proved just how badly the government was performing. The budget papers used to show a “congestion indicator”.

The system measured traffic speed on a certain number of roads in peak times.

10 years ago the average speed was 28 km/h slower than the posted speed limit during morning peak hours.

Today it’s 38 km/h slower. That’s 10 km/h slower than 10 years ago. It’s been steadily building, getting slower every year. It’s slowed by 6 km/h in just the past 2 years. The data show that just 40% of the state’s urban roads provide an acceptable standard of service according to the government’s own measures.

But because the picture those data paint is so bad, the government is dropping the measurements. It will stop collecting and publishing the data.

There are 23 separate performance measures tucked away in the budget. Craig Johnstone of the Courier Mail has done a great job in exposing this. Next to each of the 23 measures is a note saying “this measure has been reviewed and it is considered that the measure should be either replaced with a more meaningful measure or discontinued.-View story here

The Minister Craig Wallace put out a statement about this. “The Minister is committed to transparency in departmental reporting and that measures reported on are meaningful and effective.” He said that he had no current replacement for the measures they’ve dropped, but the likely replacement would use “real-time data” and would be more relevant.

Well let’s help him out! What are your real-time measures of congestion? How do you feel about Brisbane’s roads? How long does your trip take now? Do you have a measure of the congestion on the roads? I know I used to be able to leave Noosa at 6AM and get someone onto an 8.30 flight at Brisbane airport. I wouldn’t dare risk that now with the Gateway. What are you congestion measures?

Anna Bligh is very keen to tell us that things are improving. What do you have to tell Anna?

Blog comments

The Australian birthrate is 1.7. So the growth is not coming from us. It is coming from immigration. Everytime you get grid-locked in traffic, know that it is to help an elite make heaps of money from high immigration. Suggestion: put money from immigration fueled infrastructure into encouraging Australians to have more children.

tammy winfeld Tuesday 7 July, 2009 - 10:47 PM
Smithy, it takes me about an hour to go 60 kilometres (using the Logan and Gateway motorways). If I head towards the city using main roads (and traffic lights) it takes me around 90 minutes to go 50 kilometres. Congestion ... what congestion .... it's appaling. There is very little public transport from where I live and what does exist is not suitable for those who work.

Christine Wednesday 1 July, 2009 - 2:09 PM