Our aim at the Centre for Road Safety is to develop practical solutions which reduce death and injury on NSW roads while taking into account our changing road user community and environment.
There were 370 people killed (provisional figure) and around 26,000 injured (estimated figure) in crashes on NSW roads last year (2012). Speeding, fatigue and drink driving continued to be our biggest contributors to road deaths; however we saw increases in fatalities among pedestrians and motorcycle riders.
Addressing these and emerging issues will be part of our focus into the future. This includes promoting safer mobile phone usage while driving and introducing road safety measures which improve both congestion and safety, such as the Sydney CBD Motorcycle Response Team.
Some of our key responsibilities at the Centre for Road Safety include:
- Funding and developing targeted road safety programs and campaigns
- Collating and analysing crash statistics
- Assessing speed camera effectiveness
- Development and reviewing speed zone policies to ensure safety
- Allocating flashing lights outside schools in high crash risk areas
- Funding targeted police operations and programs
- Developing best practice road safety policies for design, building and maintenance of the road network
- Testing new road safety technologies
- Producing road safety education material for schools and local communities
- Improving vehicle standards for new vehicles and promoting the uptake of safer vehicles
- Developing awareness campaigns to improve road user behavior
This year we will announce our NSW Road Safety Strategy for the next ten years which aims to reduce fatalities by 30 per cent by 2021.
We recognise there have been record lows in the road toll in recent years but the NSW Road Safety Strategy shows how we can do more, particularly in the area of serious injury crashes.
To achieve the 2021 goal, the Centre for Road Safety team has engaged and will continue to consult with community groups and draw on the wide range of road safety expertise in NSW among motoring groups, insurance bodies and key government partners such as NSW Police Force and the Motor Accidents Authority.
We know the way we develop and target our road safety campaigns, work with the community and design our roads and vehicles can dramatically affect the outcome of road crashes in our state.
Contact the NSW Centre for Road Safety on (02) 8265 7511 or email roadsafety@transport.nsw.gov.au.