Road Safety

Keeping our children safe is a priority for Burwood Council. Through a partnership with the Roads and Maritime Services (RMS), Burwood Council is able to offer free child car restraint checks for local residents. The FREE child restraint checks are conducted by RMS Authorised Restraint Fitters to ensure that our youngest residents are correctly secured in car restraints.

The next free Child Restraint Safety Check sessions are listed below with the relevant contact details. Bookings are essential.

• Tue 19 October 2021 (10am – 1pm), Burwood RSL Ground Floor Car Park
• Tue 7 December 2021  (10am – 1pm), Burwood RSL Ground Floor Car Park
• Tue 22 Feb 2022 (10am – 1pm), Burwood RSL Ground Floor Car Park
• Tue 26 April 2022 (10am – 1pm), Burwood RSL Ground Floor Car Park

Burwood RSL is located at 96 Shaftesbury Rd, Burwood NSW 2134

For bookings contact  Road Safety Officer chris.johnson@burwood.nsw.gov.au or call 9911 9974

Under Australian law, children travelling in cars must be secured in an approved restraint. This means children:

• Younger than 6 months must be secured in a rear-facing restraint
• 6 months to 4 years must be secured in a rear or forward-facing restraint
• 4 to 7 years must be secured in a forward-facing restraint or booster seat 
• Younger than 4 years must travel in the back seat of a vehicle with 2 or more rows.

If you do not live in the Burwood Council area, you can find your nearest RMS approved restraint fitting station at the RMS website

Burwood Council in partnership with the RMS conduct workshops to help parents teach their learner drivers to be safer drivers.

These FREE workshops will teach parents and supervisors how to plan learner driving lessons, use the learner driver log book and give learners constructive feedback. It also gives parents and supervisors an opportunity to share their experiences with each other.

Next Workshop

• Wednesday 10 November 2021, 6.00pm - 7.30pm
• Wednesday 16 March 2022, 6.00pm - 7.30pm

Location: Online Event 

• Promote safer crossing practices for older pedestrians – use marked crossings
• Reduce the number of older pedestrians involved in crashes and fatalities within the target demographic and geographic areas
• Increase awareness and encourage road users to watch out for pedestrians

Radar Speed Displays are a Local Government safety initiative which work by displaying a car's speed to the motorist and indicating to them when they are exceeding the speed limit.

These are not enforcement devices.

Burwood Council has a number of fixed radar speed displays and rotate these fixed radar speed displays throughout the municipality to assist in reducing vehicular speeds and to improve awareness of speeding.

According to studies undertaken, radar speed displays have proven to slow down traffic, even years after the initial installation.

Our Current Locations are;

1. Mitchell Street, Enfield
2. Murray Street, Croydon

If you would like more information please contact the Road Safety Officer

Council has been arranging a “Your speed matters slow down” sticker to be placed on your wheelie bins in order to bring drivers’ attention to road safety.

In NSW speeding is a factor in about 40% of road deaths.

Speed is also the highest identifiable factor in crashes within the local government area. So we are encouraging drivers in your area to slow down when driving on your local streets. With the wheelie bins lining up on collection day, drivers will be alerted to the campaign message and Slow Down. 

If you would like a sticker on your bin, please email Council's Road Safety officer, Chris Johnson at chris.johnson@burwood.nsw.gov.au or call 9911 9974

By working together on this campaign, the local community, Police and Council can deliver a strong message to passing drivers that speeding is not acceptable on our streets. 

"Your Speed Matters" is a local road safety project jointly funded by Burwood Council, and Towards Zero, with support from NSW Police.       

Speed Sticker(JPG, 5MB)

The Safer Speeds Program specifically targets High Pedestrian Activity and local areas where crashes occur. 40 km/h limits play an essential part of Burwood's commitment to road safety and keeping pedestrians and drivers safe in high activity areas. 

The Benefits of 40km/h speed limits

• Travelling at lower speeds improves driver’s ability to stop at a safer distance to avoid crashes, otherwise reduce the severity of a crash.
• Statistics show that there was a 33% reduction in crashes causing serious injuries and deaths between 2016 and 2020 where 40km/h zones have been introduced. These zones include busy shopping precincts and neighbourhoods

In 2021 Council recently updated the signage and road line marking to remind drivers of our 40Km zones and is running regular campaigns to increase awareness for all road users. 

How fast are you going now?

Speeding remains the greatest cause of death and injuries on our roads, contributing to about 40 per cent of road fatalities. Statistics from speed-related crashes from 2008 to 2012 showed:

• About 818 were killed
• More than 4100 people were injured each year

In 2014, speed accounted for three per cent of crashes in the Burwood LGA, while it was attributed to 12% of crashes across the Sydney region and 18% across wider NSW.

In 2015, crash data revealed that speed accounted for two per cent of crashes in the Burwood LGA and nine per cent of crashes across the wider metropolitan Sydney region. 15% of crashes in NSW were the result of speed.

Burwood Council addresses speed complaints from residents on a regular basis. Annually speed audits are conducted on local roads to ensure that drivers are driving to the speed limit. All local roads in Burwood LGA have a speed limit of 50km/h unless otherwise signposted. The town centre is restricted to 40km/h.

Burwood Council delivers the Go 40 for Me campaign in and around our school zones.

Speed cameras are speed enforcement tools that make drivers slow down and help reduce the road toll. They are located throughout the LGA.

These locations include:  

1. Railway Parade cross of Burwood Road
2. The Boulevard, Strathfield (at the entry to Santa Sabina College)
3. Burwood Road cross of Liverpool Road Enfield
4.  Burwood Road cross of Parramatta Road

Mobile Speed Cameras are regularly in Burwood LGA as well for additional road safety purposes. Most recently they can be seen on Burwood Road heading towards Liverpool Road in the 50km/h zone.

Driver fatigue is one of the top three contributors to the road toll. Research has shown that fatigue can be as dangerous as other road safety issues, such as drink driving. But unlike drink driving, there are no laws regulating driver fatigue.Public education campaigns are currently the only way to address driver fatigue for car drivers and motorcyclists.

Did you know?

• Fatigue is one of the big three killers on NSW roads
• Fatigue-related crashes are twice as likely to be fatal - drivers who are asleep can't brake
• In 2012 more people in NSW died in fatigue-related crashes than drink driving crashes
• Being awake for about 17 hours has a similar effect on performance as a blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.05

Thinking about hitting the road? Test how tired you might be before you get behind the wheel, get some tips to help avoid driving tired, and share your results with your friends at testyourtiredself.com.au

Burwood Council's Road Safety Officer can host presentations targeting driver fatigue. This includes information about what is fatigue and it's impact on our roads as well as how to avoid being involved in a fatigue related crash.

The 2015 Crash Statistical Data for the Burwood LGA, listed fatigue as the third major cause of injury crashes. If you would like more information contact Council's road safety officer on 9911 9974.