The State Government and their road safety experts are of the opinion that country people are much better drivers than city folk.

If this were not true then there wouldn't be so many country roads that have no centre lines, no warning signs on crests and blind corners, no advisory speed signs etc.

I was driving on a dirt road today (one doesn't expect centre lines on dirt) but I came to a floodway, a vicious dip, that was not signposted.
Fortunately, I was watching the lie of the land and expected it, but anyone less experienced could easily have crashed; as it was I went through it at about 15 kph and that was a tad fast.

My God Is Miss, any slower and you would be out pushing it.

I also wonder how the authorities come up with their info. That would be interesting.

Hi Issy,

Maybe they should install a set of traffic lights and an overhead foot bridge for the one car, one pedestrian and one camel that passes by they way each month.
How much should country (user pay) registration go up to accommodate this whimsical request of yours. Better still they should go the whole hog, tar seal the road with all the trimming just to satisfy. I recall in Queensland in the days of Old Joh, they did exactly that, to satisfy one voter, Joh Jr.

Obviously Paul has no idea, as usual.

He doesn't realise those dirt roads are council roads , not government.

He as an obvious bureaucrat knows the answer, but doesn't like it.

The answer is to chuck out half the bureaucrats in all levels of government. Less bureaucrats, less number of in baskets to get anything approved, lower cost, less waste of time & money.

Now with the money saved getting rid of bureaucrats, the $3000 to $5000 we pay in rates for each property will be able to pay for a few road signs, & perhaps even the occasional grading of that dirt.

Comprehension problem still, Paul.

I didn't make any requests only observations.

Where the Gwydir Highway passes through Glen Innes (west of the New England H'way), and just near the hospital there is a hill which is relatively steep and the broken centre line goes merrily over the crest; an invitation to disaster.
Fortunately, the entrance to Emergency is on this section of the hill, so not far to take any injured.

That you did indeed Issy, and I was being most flippant in that regard. Please accept my usual remorse that must be extended to you for the indiscretion.

Now on the subject at hand, your sidekick, and fellow time traveler, Hassy made the valid point "dirt roads are council roads" shire councils, which are actually government, local government that is. The problem being, Australia is a large continent, sparsely populated, and given to the most severe weather conditions. Compounding the problem is little resources are available to local government to maintain a vast country road network. Consequently you are going to have in places, and quite often, lest than adequate and most dangerous conditions.

This will shock you, but I have to admit, I do not have the answer to the conundrum, which has existed since convict times. Other than to say I suggest you keep to the bituminous highway when you next venture out in your "Goggomobil". Although I would think you are an experienced driver, with the right vehicle, but even the most experienced can get into trouble, so please, and I mean this, take care when your out and about on those roads my friend, they can be very unforgiving.

Thank you, Paul, for an appreciated reply; however, the Gwydir is a State Highway and the dangerous condition that I mentioned has been reported numerous times (according to locals) but nowt is done about it, similarly, south of Glen Innes, on the New England Highway at Stonehenge, there is a long straight.
This straight has a dip in it that can effectively conceal a car, then follows a blind corner all of which is divided by an inviting broken centre line.

Hi Issy, I am surprised such conditions are allowed to exists on our "highways". a letter (E-mail) to the roads minister would not be out of place. I do sympathize with local shire councils and the roads they have to maintain, a job often beyond their capacity. I recall the March Road up near Orange, for 20 miles and for many years it was a nice tar sealed road, it turned into a goat track at the point where the two shires met. Wellington Shire never maintained their section, while Orange did, even tar sealing their bit, strange.

Paul,

One of the reasons for dirt roads is that they cost less to build; some years ago the State Government mandated that tar roads had to meet a new wider minimum width, the result was that some councils, faced with a staggering new cost, simply sent their graders out and put the rippers through their tar roads, turning them into black gravel roads.

Late in the 1990s or early 2000s, NSW ripped up the bitumen on the road between Woodenbong & Stanthorpe, as they reckoned they couldn't afford to maintain it. They claimed it was better to have a dirt road, as they could grade it a couple of times a year much more cheaply.

Obviously the NSW government wanted to spend the money on a roundabout or flyover in Sydney, rather than a road for people to get to town in wet weather. Welcome to the left green world.