In this current term of government, the Coalition has promised to build a Moruya bypass and overhaul the highway from Nowra almost to Batemans Bay.

So much more needs to be done, as anyone who drives from Moruya to the Victorian border knows too well.

We have had several head-on collisions north of Narooma during 2018 - and at least two overturned vehicles in the same area in the past month alone.

We have had an ambulance overturn on the "mad mile" south of Batemans Bay this month.

We have had two people flown to Canberra after a collision north of Eden this month.

The paramedics union has called for a dual carriageway to the border - just as the NRMA did several years ago.

Back then, the NRMA based its call for a divided road - or at the very least temporary wire dividers - on a five-year research program.

Those five years worth of numbers showed very clearly that divided highways saved lives, reduced injuries and kept the arteries of highway economies open.

It was a no-brainer for the motorist lobby group in 2014 to make that demand.

It has taken politicians longer to get on board - but the NSW Government has invested record dollars in the highway and has promised more.

Now it is time for a bi-partisan commitment from Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Labor leader Bill Shorten.

They must rise above the pugilism of party politics and agree to saving lives on country roads.

Bega MP Andrew Constance on Sunday repeated his call for the federal government to invest in the highway.

Both sides of federal politics have historically ignored the road, arguing it is not a road of national significance.

Yet it is a road that tourists drive on through three states.

And the lives of all those who travel it are significant.

We have about five weeks to an undeclared election. 

One down, one to go.

We will keep the pressure on.