Get The Facts

RACQ members voted talking or sending text messages on mobile phones the fourth most annoying driver behaviour in the survey, which RACQ conducted to identify road safety issues and behaviours of most concern to its 1.2 million members.

Driver distractions, including use of hand-held mobile phones, are more than just annoying to motorists - they can also contribute to crashes.

During May 2012, RACQ is using 'fuel boards' attached to petrol pump nozzles in service stations throughout the state to hammer home the road safety message that if you are driving, you shouldn’t be using your mobile.

Question: Why has RACQ decided to use this method to promote safety messages around mobile phone use and driving?

Answer: All motorists have to refill their vehicles and this is a cost-effective way to reach them without providing another driver distraction.

Question: If RACQ is genuinely campaigning for cheaper fuel, why is it paying the fuel companies to advertise at their outlets?

Answer: The two issues are completely unrelated. This form of advertising is relatively cheap and reaches a large number of motorists when they are open to safety messages.

Question: Everyone multi-tasks these days, even when driving. What’s the problem?

Answer: People with busy lifestyles see time spent in the car as an opportunity to do other tasks while they are driving. But they’re not stopping to think of the dangers posed by this risky behaviour, not just to them but also to other road users.

RACQ advocates that drivers should refrain from doing anything that takes their eyes off the road, hands off the wheel, or mind off the driving task. A driver’s key responsibility is to drive safely, and distractions such as phone use, changing a CD, eating or drinking interfere with this.

Question: Isn’t this just the RACQ going to extremes?

Answer: No. We are reflecting the views of our members, who have told us in surveys that:

• 63% believe that both hand-held and hands-free mobile phone use should be banned for all drivers
• 90% believe that text messaging while driving is very distracting
• 80% believe that making or receiving calls without using hands-free is very distracting

RACQ’s Motoring Matters document can be downloaded at Motoring Matters

1. Why is RACQ undertaking this campaign during the State Election?
   
   Formed in 1905 to represent the interests of motorists, RACQ represents 1.2 million members and their families and is Queensland’s largest club. We take the role of advocate very seriously and work tirelessly to ensure Queensland motorists and their families get a fair go.
2. Why launch a campaign of this size now?
   
   We’re continuing more than a century of advocating on behalf of its members, and using the weight of more than 1.2 million Queenslanders to get a better result for road users. It’s not good enough that so many people are dying on our roads, and we’re demanding action.
   
   Bad roads lead to higher road deaths and more severe road injuries. It’s not good enough to always blame the driver. Queenslanders can support RACQ’s campaign for safer roads on our Facebook page www.facebook.com/racqofficial.
   
   This is the biggest campaign in our 106-year history because the time for talking is over – we need action to curb the road toll.
3. What does RACQ hope to achieve?
   
   We have outlined our priorities in our Motoring Matters document, which has been distributed to all major political parties, political leaders and key candidates. It demands action on key road funding and road safety policy issues, along with consumer focused policies to make fuel pricing more transparent, vehicle registration cheaper, and driving more economical and environmentally friendly.
   
   We believe Motoring Matters outlines realistic initiatives that the next State Government simply cannot afford to ignore.
4. So, the campaign is just a document?
   
   We’re using billboards on Queensland’s key highways, from the Gold Coast to Cairns and west to Toowoomba, calling on all sides of politics to ensure road funding and road safety is part of their election platforms.
   
   A wide range of advertising and media events are planned in the lead up to the election that will reinforce the message to both politicians and the general public.
   
   We are also using all RACQ’s own communication channels, such as our bi-monthly magazine, digital newsletters, our website, Facebook page and Twitter, to get the message out to our members and supporters.
   
   And we’re also seeking the support of other key stakeholders, such as industry and community groups, for our campaign.
5. Does the campaign support the current State Labor Government, the LNP, or any other political party?
   
   RACQ is, and has always been, apolitical; the political persuasion of the next State Government is irrelevant to the desperate need to improve the road network and the cost of motoring.
6. Why is the cost of motoring important?
   
   Not only is Queensland the most expensive state in which to own and operate a vehicle, road crashes cost Queensland $4 billion every year. Road safety is not just a health issue; it’s an economic and social one.
7. Why should motoring be a top election issue?
   
   Cars account for 75 percent of all passenger travel in Queensland, so how governments cater for motorists is a key indicator of economic, social and environmental performance.
8. Why is road safety an important issue in this election?
   
   Queensland’s road toll rose to 269 last year, and is on track to rise again in 2012. More must be done to curb this devastating loss of life. We’re pushing for a range of initiatives to address this issue, including expanding on-road police presence, increased road infrastructure funding, and road safety education programs.
9. Aren’t the Bruce and Warrego Highways federal roads and not the State Government’s responsibility?
   
   It is the State Government’s responsibility to prioritise funding for federal roads, undertake feasibility studies, and get projects ‘dig ready’. The priority the State Government gives federal road projects goes a long way toward securing funding.
10. What can I do to support the RACQ’s campaign?
    
    Go to RACQ’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/racqofficial to show your support. Then ask your local candidates if they support RACQ’s policies, which are available at Motoring Matters.

Question: How are the Used Car Safety Ratings calculated?

Answer: Monash University’s Accident Research Centre analysed records from more than four million vehicles in police-reported road crashes and more than one million injured road users in New Zealand and Australia between 1987 and 2009.

Question: What types of vehicles are included in the ratings?

Answer: The majority of popular passenger vehicles and light commercial vehicles that were manufactured from 1996 onwards were assessed. Where there was sufficient data, a rating was given to the vehicle.

Question: What is the Safe Pick category and why was it created?

Answer: The 2011 Used Car Safety Ratings include a new Safe Pick category. Safe Picks are the safest second hand cars that motorists can purchase to protect themselves and also reduce the risk of injury to other motorists, pedestrians and cyclists in a crash. The category was developed to encourage motorists to think not only about their own safety but also the safety of other road users in an effort to reduce the deaths and injuries that occur on our roads.

Only 20 vehicles made it into the Safe Pick category. They ranged in size from smaller hatchbacks to larger SUVs. Five small cars made it to the list, challenging the myth that only large cars are safe. They are: Honda Civic 2006-2009; Peugeot 307 2001-2009; Volvo S40/V40 1997-2004; Volkswagen Golf/Bora 1999-2004; and Volkswagen Golf/Jetta 2004-2009.

Question: Which used cars were rated the best and the worst?

Answer: The Australian Ford Falcon FG 2008-2009 was rated the safest used vehicle for its high level of protection for both occupants and other road users. The 1996 Daihatsu Mira was the worst rated vehicle. The risk of death and serious injury was found to be 8.2 times higher in the Daihatsu Mira than in the Falcon FG.

Question: Is it possible to buy a safe second hand vehicle that is also cheap to run?

Answer: The results showed that whether you want a small car or a four-wheel drive, it’s possible to purchase a safe car that’s relatively affordable. You can save more on fuel costs without compromising safety by purchasing one of the small cars that made it to the Safe Pick category. The Volkswagen Golf is a good example of a Safe Pick that is economical to run.

Question: How often are the ratings updated and who funds them?

Answer: The ratings are updated annually and they are funded by motoring clubs, including the RACQ, and road authorities around Australia and New Zealand.

1. What has RACQ Insurance announced today?
   
   RACQ Insurance announced that, following the release of new hydrological information relating to January’s floods, it had reassessed and approved 247 previously declined insurance claims in the Ipswich area.
2. Why were these customers originally told they weren’t covered?
   
   These claims were previously declined based on the best information available at the time. However, the newly released information shows that they can be accepted under our cover for flash flood and stormwater run-off.
3. What was this new information?
   
   The new information was data relating to a hydrology model that we had first requested in February from the Ipswich City Council, SEQ Water, and the Brisbane City Council. It has now been released by the Brisbane City Council and provided important information and data on the affected area.
4. Could this be the case for other customers?
   
   No. Following the release of the hydrological information, RACQ Insurance reassessed all potentially affected claims. There are no further claims to be reassessed.
5. Why was the information released by BCC and not Ipswich City Council?
   
   That is a question for the Ipswich City Council.
6. Will customers have to pay back any ‘compassionate’ payments?
   
   Any compassionate payments made by RACQ Insurance to these customers will not need to be returned.
7. Is this a back down following public criticism of your no-payment stance?
   
   No. This is the right decision based on all the information now available and which we have been asking for since February.
8. How will this affect Premier’s Relief Fund payments?
   
   We will be having discussions with the Premier’s Fund. However, it will be up to the Premier’s Fund as to how they manage any payments already made to these customers.
9. Should all insurers be changing their decisions in this area?
   
   Our investigations are tailored for our policies. We cannot speak for other insurers.
10. Which area was it? I am just down the road - why didn’t my result change?
    
    The further information impacted on a number of properties in the part of the Ipswich region which was inundated by the Bremer River. We have advised all customers who were affected.
11. Does everyone who has been reassessed now know their claims have been approved?
    
    RACQ Insurance has sent the information by express post overnight and is individually calling each affected customer.
12. Why did you say they weren’t covered, if you knew you didn’t have all the information?
    
    At the time we made our original claims decisions, we did not know what further information was available and whether the further information would ever actually be released to us.
13. How long did these customers wait before they were declined originally? Why not just wait a bit longer until you had all of the information?
    
    The times varied. Customers were advised of their claims decisions as soon as possible after we confirmed the circumstances of their inundation with the best information we had available. Delaying the claims decisions was not possible because we did not know how much longer we would need to wait for the further information to be released to us, or whether the information would be released to us at all.

Question: Have motoring costs gone up in this year's survey?

Answer: Overall costs have stayed mainly the same or dropped slightly. This is because total ownership costs include finance repayments, depreciation, registration, insurance, fuel and maintenance and these costs do not change in a uniform way. For 2011, most costs increased but finance costs, which has a noticeable influence of overall costs, and CTP dropped.

Question: What were the cheapest cars surveyed?

Answer: For Queensland purchasers Holden’s Barina Spark followed very closely by the Suzuki Alto were found to be the cheapest in the survey with Hyundai’s petrol i30, Toyota Camry and the Holden Commodore 3.6 dual fuel being the cheapest in the small, medium and large car categories.

Question: What was the most expensive vehicle to own and operate?

Answer: he Toyota Landcruiser GXL Turbo Diesel was the most expensive at nearly $389 per week, and has been for the past six years.

Question: Is it possible to make savings when shopping for a new car?

Answer: A purchaser can do many things such as choosing a smaller vehicle that will still meet their motoring needs yet has lower ownership costs. Negotiating a lower purchase price is still one of the most effective ways of minimising the amount that needs to be financed and this lower initial price helps reduce overall depreciation costs. Depreciation is generally the largest single cost of car ownership and only becomes apparent when the car is sold.

Question: How do hybrids and diesel engine cars compare to petrol ones?

Answer: Hybrid models tend to have higher overall ownership costs than their petrol equivalents even though they consume less fuel. This cost difference is mainly due to their higher purchase prices. Diesel engine vehicles are closer to petrol versions in terms of overall ownership costs and depend on actual models as to whether they are cheaper or dearer to own. Diesels are generally more expensive to purchase and have higher servicing costs, but fuel costs are lower.

A summary of the full 2011 report, Facts on Private Vehicle Expenses is available at www.racq.com.au/runningcosts.

The study found that last year:

• Motorists paid more for short term parking in Brisbane’s CBD than in any other capital city in Australia except Sydney. In the Asia-Pacific region, Brisbane was the third most expensive city, behind Sydney and Tokyo.
• Brisbane motorists paid three times as much for both short and long term parking than they did in 2001.
• For short term CBD parking, Brisbane motorists paid an average of $21.70 for one hour, just $4.13 less than Sydney residents who paid an average of $25.83, and $5.72 more than Melbourne motorists who paid $15.98.
• Approximately 60 percent of the maximum daily parking charge in the CBD is accrued in the first two hours, meaning those seeking the short term parks are hit the hardest.
• All-day parking rates in Brisbane’s CBD were less than those in Sydney and Melbourne, with motorists paying an average of $51.97, compared to $69.02 in Sydney and $64.64 in Melbourne.
• While Brisbane’s all-day rates were lower, they only benefit city workers doing the daily commute while the families, shoppers and those seeking dining and entertainment options were hit hard with expensive short-term parking costs.

The complete report is available at www.racq.com/transport

Question: How much money is the State Government allocating to roads in this year’s budget?

Answer: The Queensland Government will spend $3.6 billion on roads in 2011-12, including $1.4 billion for repairs to roads damaged by natural disasters. Although the $3.6 billion is about $300 million more than last year’s state budget for roads, it is actually costing the state government less because the Federal Government is providing approx. 75 percent of the disaster recovery money. It is disappointing that the state government did not choose to allocate more money to improve safety and productivity, cater for population growth, and flood-proof key highways.

Question: Is all the funding going to rebuild roads damaged in this year’s natural disasters?

Answer: $1.4 billion will be spent in 2011-12 to rebuild roads damaged in the floods and cyclones. Seventy five percent of this spending comes from the Federal Government. This means about $350 million is being contributed by the State Government.

Question: Will my registration fees be going up?

Answer: Yes – by 3.6 percent. This is in line with the Brisbane CPI, which the State Government uses as a yardstick. Queensland will continue to be the most expensive state in Australia in which to register a vehicle. The total bill to register a car in 2011-12 (including CTP and the traffic improvement fee) is shown below:

Cylinders	2011-12 vehicle registration (including traffic improvement fee & CTP)
4	$641.90
6	$805.30
8	$982.80

Question: Were any major new road projects or upgrades announced?

Answer: No 'surprise' announcements of new road projects or major road upgrades were included in the 2011-12 Queensland Budget. The majority of funding is directed at road projects previously committed or already underway, or to repairing flood damaged roads.

Question: Which roads did Queenslanders nominate this year?

Answer: Of the 2174 nominations in the 2011 survey, 473 branded the Bruce Highway the most state’s most ‘unroadworthy’ road. All six sections of the Bruce Highway from Brisbane to Cairns featured in the top 10 worst state and national network roads and the Cooroy to Gin Gin stretch once again cemented its reputation as the state’s worst stretch of highway. With more than 320 nominations, all three sections of the Warrego Highway from Ipswich to Charleville also featured in the survey. Together, the two highways accounted for nine of the top 10 worst roads.

More than 500 individual roads throughout Queensland were nominated as substandard by motorists, up from 364 in 2008.

Paradise Road, Larapinta and Illaweena Street, Berrinba, in Brisbane featured prominently in the worst local government road list, followed by Stoney Camp Road, Greenbank in Logan City, Connors Road, Paget, in Mackay and Old Toogoom Road,Torbanlea, on the Fraser Coast.

Question: Why were these roads and streets nominated?

Answer: Motorists are obviously frustrated about the poor standard and condition of the Bruce and Warrego Highways, which are both essential for transport and freight. Respondents identified similar issues along both highways, highlighting rough and narrow road surfaces, poor road shoulders, a lack of overtaking opportunities, and flooding issues. Other concerns centered around the lack of maintenance and capital funding for improvements over many years on the national highway network, and the accelerated road damage caused by heavy vehicle use.

The top five most suggested solutions were to:

• Resurface roads
• Widen or duplicate roads
• Increase road maintenance
• Improve road shoulders
• Improve drainage runoff.

Other solutions offered by respondents included more overtaking lanes, improving road alignment, raising the road level and improving road markings.

Question: What will the results be used for?

Answer: RACQ will continue to push for better roads and lobby the relevant authorities to consider our survey results when planning projects. Previous surveys have been used to pressure governments to improve some of Queensland’s most dangerous roads. For example, RACQ’s lobbying led to much needed improvements to the notorious Gap Creek Road, which appeared regularly in previous Unroadworthy Roads Surveys.

Question: Why is the survey held every three years?

Answer: The RACQ Unroadworthy Roads Survey began in 2001 and has since been held every three years to allow federal, state and local governments sufficient time to respond to calls from the community for action on certain roads.

More information is available at www.racq.com.au/unroadworthyroads.

Question: What is the RACQ Foundation?

Answer: The RACQ Foundation was announced in January as part of a $20 million disaster relief package. The package included $10m to fund compassionate assistance payments to severely affected RACQ Insurance policyholders who don’t have flood coverage; $2 million to the Premiers Disaster Relief Appeal; and $8 million to be distributed to communities through the RACQ Foundation.

This was RACQ’s response to the natural disasters that had devastated our State. It was announced well before any other large corporate donations or Federal Government disaster funding. The RACQ Foundation is a charitable trust designed to assist community and charitable organisations re-establish themselves to pre-disaster levels.

Question: How much funding is available and who is eligible?

Answer: The Foundation has $8 million to distribute to small and medium-sized community and charitable organisations that offer services or facilities to local communities. Individual grants of up to $200,000 are available for capital works and social services projects.

Question: When will applicants be informed that their funding submission was successful?

Answer: Applications for the first round of funding through the RACQ Foundation closed April 30 and donations of more than $1.7 million to 22 groups were announced on May 25. Applications for the second round close on May 27, with a third round closing on June 24. Further funding rounds will be announced later in the year.

Question: Who received money in the first round of funding?

Answer: Under the RACQ Foundation’s first round of grants, several organisations in the state’s worst hit regions will receive direct cash assistance. Recipients of this first round funding include:

• The Endeavour Foundation at Redbank in south-east Queensland, which will receive $200,000 towards building Treetops Residential, a supported accommodation facility which will replace the Riverside Residential building which was inundated by floodwaters;
• The Kath Dickson Family Centre, a charity for at risk and disadvantaged children and their families in Toowoomba, which will receive $160,000 to re-establish services, repair playground equipment and replace assets to support community services in flood affected areas;
• Brisbane Basketball, which will receive $200,000 to repair extensive flood damage to their Auchenflower stadium used by more than 4,000 players a week. The funding includes repairs to two courts, toilets, canteen , floor, reception, equipment, security system, disabled lift, new doors, locks, plumbing and the car park;
• The Tully and District Times Pony Club, which was damaged during Cyclone Yasi, will receive $85,000 to replace the damaged clubhouse roof and repair the canteen and toilet facilities, and;
• $100,000 to the RSPCA at Fairfield in Brisbane towards the replacement of vital intensive care units damaged when the animal welfare centre was inundated during the floods.

Another 17 organisations are being informed of the funding support following their applications to the RACQ Foundation and we are currently working through the details of these applications to finalise the distribution process.

Question: Why doesn't RACQ just give the money to the worst-hit region, surely they need it the most?

Answer: As a Queensland-wide organisation representing 1.2 million members and their families, it’s important we reflect the nature of RACQ in the spread of donations from the RACQ Foundation.

The first round of $1.7 million in grants will help community organisations which cannot get funding from anywhere else. These are organisations providing vital support and assistance to their local communities and are often the glue around keeping these suburbs, towns and regions together.

More information, including eligibility criteria and applications packs, is available at www.racq.com/foundation.

Question: How many insurance claims have you received from the December-January weather events and Cyclone Yasi?

Answer: As at 23rd May, 2011 we have received 10,361 claims from the weather events in December-January, including the hailstorms in Brisbane and flooding across Queensland and 5,261 from Cyclone Yasi in February.

Question: Why don’t you offer flood cover as standard with your Household insurance policy?

Answer: While insurance companies operate in the same way in general terms, each has its own approach to managing risk. RACQ Insurance understands there is not adequate flood mapping across Queensland to properly assess potential impacts or risk appropriately and, therefore from a risk management perspective, we cannot offer flood as part of our standard cover.

Question: Do you tell people that flood cover is not included?

Answer: RACQ Insurance has always made it clear in plain language that flood cover is not included. For example, it is stated in the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS), in the Optional Cover section and on the Certificate of Insurance that flood cover is not included with the standard Household insurance policy.

Question: Is the $20 million disaster relief package all the RACQ has done to help Queenslanders recover from the disasters?

Answer: No. RACQ has also provided significant support to Queenslanders throughout the disasters through:

• Provision of road conditions reports
• Free towing of flood affected vehicles
• Deployment of the mobile business centre and emergency teams into cyclone affected areas to provide communications and assist with the clean-up of debris
• Free vehicle inspections for damaged or potentially damaged cars
• Waiving of excess towing fees for flood impacted vehicles
• Waiving of standard waiting times for new members for recovery of flood-affected vehicles.

Question: Why hasn’t RACQ devoted the whole $20m to paying the claims of individual flood and cyclone victims?

Answer:RACQ has provided a total of $10 million to fund compassionate assistance payments to its insurance policyholders who were severely affected by the natural disasters and did not have flood coverage. Approximately $7 million of this has already been distributed.

Question: Why are hydrological investigations necessary and why do they take so long?

Answer: RACQ Insurance policies include coverage for flash flood and stormwater run off as standard but do not cover other kinds of flood unless the policyholder has obtained the optional extra cover. Where there is any doubt about the type of water inundation involved in a claim it is necessary to thoroughly investigate and assess the claim before a final decision can be made.

Detailed investigation is undertaken with the assistance of a hydrologist. Hydrologists are scientists who study the source and movement of water above and below the earth’s surface. There is a limited number of hydrologists available in Australia and a huge demand for their services following the biggest flood disaster in modern Australian history.

The investigations have taken longer than expected due to the widespread impact, volume of claims, the range of causes and the unavailability in some cases of all the necessary information due to such factors as access (due to damage to key infrastructure to flood affected regions) and the considerable burdens placed on state and local authorities due to these unprecedented events. As a result of all of these issues, timeframes for final claim decisions have been far longer than we would normally accept.

Question: What percentage of residential properties in Australia is subject to flooding?

Answer: According to an Insurance Council of Australia and National Flood Information Database (NFID) report, the vast majority of Australian properties have little or no flood risk. The report indicates that approximately 2.8% of properties have some risk of flooding.

NFID is an address database containing 11.3 million property addresses, overlayed with the known flood risk according to government flood mapping. The report states that presently, not every flood prone area in Australia is covered by the NFID.

Read the full report.

Question: Why can’t you just give policyholders the benefit of the doubt and classify it all as flash flood or stormwater runoff?

Answer: All insurance companies take out their own insurance to cover large scale catastrophes. This is called reinsurance and it is necessary to ensure the capacity to pay when very large numbers of claims arise from one event. Reinsurers charge a premium based on the coverage offered by the insurer to the customer. RACQ Insurance can only claim from reinsurers on the same basis as the customer’s cover. We are unable to make payouts without the ability to recover from our reinsurers as this would place a huge financial burden on the company flowing through to substantially higher premiums for all policyholders.

Question: What about car insurance?

Motor comprehensive insurance covers customers against loss or damage (including flood damage) to their vehicle and tools and accessories attached to it at the time of the event.