The Hon. SANDRA KANCK: I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Transport and Urban Planning a question about the need for a pedestrian crossing on James Congdon Drive at Thebarton.
 Leave granted.
 The Hon. SANDRA KANCK: A recent edition of Thebarton Voice, which is the newsletter of Thebarton residents, contained an article regarding the need for a pedestrian crossing on James Congdon Drive. I have since been in contact with some of the members of the Residents' Association about that. The association has been lobbying the Department of Transport for such a crossing for some time, but to no avail.
 It is my understanding that to qualify for a pedestrian crossing a road must meet a number of criteria, which is called a warrant. I gather that the warrant is a mathematical formula which requires that in two separate one hour periods of a typical week day there should be no fewer than 60 pedestrians crossing the roadway within close proximity to the site and at least 600 vehicles passing that site subject to the product of the number of pedestrians per hour and vehicles in the same hour exceeding 90 000, whatever that means.
 Obviously, the time of day the calculation is done will have a significant effect on the figures. The Thebarton Residents Association also contends that the formula does not distinguish between pedestrians' desire to cross the road and the opportunity to cross the road. It points out that the 1997 peak flows on James Congdon Drive were 1 250 vehicles per hour, or a car every 1.4 seconds, which would preclude many people from even attempting to begin the crossing of the road. The Thebarton Residents Association notes that Adelaide High School and Temple College students cross James Congdon Drive going to and from school. My questions to the Minister are:
 1. Is the warrant calculation the only factor in assessing the need for a pedestrian crossing?
 2. Does the Minister consider the current assessment procedures adequate?
 3. Will she commit personally to viewing the situation on James Congdon Drive to assess the efficacy of the warrant system?
  The Hon. DIANA LAIDLAW: Yes, I will visit the site at the member's request, with or without the honourable member. The warrant factor has been deliberately established Australia wide so that it is an objective basis, not a subjective or political basis, for funding allocations for various pedestrian crossings. Sometimes, I must admit, I find it uncomfortable to write to members of Parliament when they have sought funds for pedestrian crossings for the worthiest of purposes, but once you start deviating where do you stop, in terms of the demands, which far outweigh either the amount of money available or the definition of what is acceptable? There is a real dilemma in getting the balance right between the flow of vehicles and pedestrian safety.
 While I have been Minister, the department has been asked to focus much more strongly on pedestrian safety and not just on seeing the roads for motor vehicles. But there is a time when motorists get so fed up stopping and starting at traffic lights and pedestrian crossings that they actually decide to take things into their own hands and defy pedestrian safety crossings, which are no longer safe havens because motorists have decided that there are just too many and they have been frustrated in their access across Adelaide.
 It really involves quite a balancing act but, at the same time, I have not sought to question the warrant that applies Australia wide and imposes an objective basis for analysis and recommendation by the department to me. However, I will look again at whether, on an Australia wide basis, we should be looking at that warrant. There may be other forms of safe access that we can provide at that location which differs from the one the honourable member advocates, because then there are not only lower costs but also different standards of speeds and warrants applying. 

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