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Parton / The statistical mystery of Kuringa Drive

Kuringa Drive, Fraser… Curvy with a couple of sharp corners, but’s just a quiet stretch of virtual country road. Photo by google maps
Kuringa Drive, Fraser… Curvy with a couple of sharp corners, but it’s just a quiet stretch of virtual country road. Photo by google maps
I MOVED to Canberra 15 years ago in December 1998 and my first trip to town was for a job interview.

I remember driving in on the Federal Highway when it was a single carriageway for pretty much the entire way. It was hot, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the cherry selling vans were doing a roaring trade. On a hot summer’s day Canberra can have a lazy, small-town feel about it… but even on that day I was astounded at how aggressive the drivers were. Welcome to Canberra, the “tailgate city” where people drive way too impatiently.

The accident rates were too high for too long and it’s a credit to the police and, I guess, to the motorists themselves that the figures are improving.

Nevertheless, the road accident statistics make fascinating reading and one of the roads that sticks out as a huge problem is Kuringa Drive at Fraser. It’s our “Bermuda Triangle”.

People don’t disappear on Kuringa Drive, but for some reason their road sense does.

I’d love to know how many times I’ve uttered “there’s been a single-vehicle accident on Kuringa Drive” on the radio during my 15 years here.

Roads ACT statistics show 11 casualty crashes on Kuringa Drive between 2009 and 2013. The intersection of Gungahlin Drive and Belconnen Way is the only section of road to have more prangs in that time with 12.

Considering the small volume of traffic on Kuringa Drive, a small stretch of road that meanders through the bush on the northern edge of suburbia, the figure is astounding.

Sure it’s curvy, with a couple of sharp corners, but it’s just a quiet stretch of virtual country road.

Most of the accidents seem to occur when there is moisture around, so if it’s raining, or been raining, my advice is… don’t go there! Not because you may lose control, but consider that somebody else probably will.

 

 

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Mark Parton

Mark Parton

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