Road Safety

We are all road users at some time, be that as a pedestrian, driver, cyclist, or passenger. Almost 50% of crashes in NSW occur in local communities and on local streets. Councils are best placed to tackle road safety, as they are responsible for almost 80% of our roads.

Burwood Council is part of the Local Government Road Safety Officer program. This is in partnership with Transport for NSW (TfNSW), Police and other organisations. The aims are to address local road safety issues and help to reduce the amount and severity of crashes.

Council uses statistical analysis and community consultation to determine the areas of concern in our community. Every year we develop an Action Plan to address these issues. The Centre for Road Safety contribute funding to deliver these programs each year. 

Protecting the youngest members of our community is a significant part of Burwood Councils Road Safety Program. We have a dedicated resource area for safety around schools which specific road safety information for children and parents, downloads and ranger assistance.

Please visit 'Road Safety Around Our Schools' for more information.  

Key areas of focus are as follows:

Child Restraint Fitting Days

Are you a parent or carer of a child between ages 0-7 years?

It is your legal responsibility to ensure that children travelling in a vehicle are secured correctly in age-appropriate seat belts at all times.

Burwood Council is organising free Child Restraint Fitting days. This event is funded by the Local Government Road Safety Program.

Parents and carers who live, work or study in the area are invited to get their child car seats professionally checked/installed.

When: 10:00am to 1:00pm on

  • Friday 20 October 2023
  • Thursday 23 November 2023
  • Wednesday 13 December 2023

Where: Grant Park car park (rear end behind Enfield Aquatic Centre)

Bookings essential. To register, please ring Council’s Road Safety Officer on 9911 9912 or email usha.arvind@burwood.nsw.gov.au

Workshops for Learner Drivers

Are you supervising a rookie driver through the driver licensing process? 

Join us for a free interactive online workshop for learner drivers and their supervisors to help them become safer responsible drivers. All ages and abilities welcome.

When: Wednesday 13 September 2023, 6-7:30pm 

Where: Online (Link will be shared upon registration)

Registration: Contact Council’s Road Safety Officer on 9911 9912 or email Usha.Arvind@burwood.nsw.gov.au

Pedestrian Safety - Look out before you step out

Our bodies are fragile. The strongest body cannot withstand the impact of road trauma, even at relatively low speeds. Above 30km/h the risk of death or injury rises rapidly; this risk increases by 400% at just 50km/h. Children are even more vulnerable, so they need to be supervised around roads at all times. People using motorised mobility scooters and electric wheelchairs are considered pedestrians too.

Overview

This campaign was developed to address pedestrian safety issues among older members of the community. The materials developed for this campaign support public awareness initiatives delivered by the Centre for Road Safety.

Local government programs targeting pedestrians, these campaigns are highly localised. They are generally timed around events where we expect lots of pedestrians. These include sporting events and festivals. Awareness programs for seniors are conducted in areas with many elderly residents. These programs help older people understand their greater road safety risk, and refresh their knowledge of the road rules. They also provide advice on the use of pedestrian facilities and mobility aids.

Burwood and Pedestrians

In 2016, the NSW Government has established Towards Zero. This campaign targets pedestrian related offences in Burwood. Throughout this operation, Highway Patrol Police occupy various crossings which see a heavy flow of pedestrian traffic and monitor them while crossing the road. Burwood Highway Patrol have reported that from their two operations which have been carried out in recent weeks, there has been 13 tickets issued worth $72. These tickets were issued for not crossing at an appropriate crossing or crossing while the pedestrian light was red. There are an additional two campaigns scheduled for coming weeks. Police are also issuing education pamphlets to help the CALD communities living, working or playing in Burwood.

This campaign has come given the high number of pedestrian related fatalities. In 2015 Burwood LGA had a total of 168 pedestrian related crashed. Of these, one was fatal, 18 resulted in serious injury, 34 were deemed moderate injury and 47 were minor injuries.

Sadly, in 2016, preliminary data indicates that there have already been two fatal crashes in the Burwood LGA. One which was a pedestrian.

Behavioural issues – facts and figures

In 2009, data showed that pedestrian fatalities were increasing proportionately higher than the rest of the road toll. These statistics provide an overview of pedestrian casualties in metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas of NSW:
  • Pedestrians over 70 years of age account for 33 per cent of pedestrian fatalities
  • During the first five months of 2009, there were 195 deaths on NSW roads – 52 (36 per cent) more than for the same period in 2008
  • Pedestrian fatalities also increased during this five month period – up by 53 per cent, from 19 in 2008 to 29 in 2009

Aims

Desired outcomes of the campaign include:
  • 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

What's being done?

Council have introduced several strategies to promote the message surrounding walking safely.
Council's Road Safety Officer hosts presentations throughout the LGA to a wide range of groups. Sessions are tailored to the group's needs, and are a great way of staying updated on pedestrian laws.

Council also works with the Navitas College in Burwood. Here, we to assist in teaching their transport units to non-English speaking residents.

To find out more about these programs, contact Burwood Council's Road Safety Officer usha.arvind@burwood.nsw.gov.au or 9911 9912

 

Radar Speed Displays

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 or call 9911 9912

 

 mitchell street
Mitchell Street, Enfield

murray street
Murray Street, Croydon

Request a 'Your Speed Matters' Bin Stickers

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 Usha.Arvind@burwood.nsw.gov.au or call 9911 9912

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)

speed sticker

 

40km/h speed zone in Burwood Town Centre

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. 

 40 zone sign

Burwood High Pedestrian Activity Area Map

Speed Cameras in Burwood

How fast are you going now?

Driving too fast is the single most significant contributor to death and injury on NSW roads. Speeding contributes to around 41 per cent of road fatalities and 24 per cent of serious injuries each year.

Almost 150 lives are lost, and 1,270 people are seriously injured each year.  

Burwood Council addresses speed complaints from our residents regularly with;

  • Annual speed audits on local roads to ensure that drivers are driving to the speed limit. 
  • Improvements to local road signage and line marking.
  • 40km/h 'High Pedestrian Activity Area' for our Town Centre 
  • Go 40 for Me campaign in and around our school zones.

All local roads in Burwood LGA have a speed limit of 50km/h unless otherwise signposted, and the Town Centre is 40km/h.

stopping.gif

Road Safety Speeding Information      

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

There are currently 4-speed camera locations in Burwood's LGA.  

  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.

Mobile Speed Camera.jpg

   

 

Fatigue - Don't trust your tired self

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 2019 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 Test Your Tired Self website

Burwood Council's Road Safety Officer can host presentations targeting driver fatigue. Information includes fatigue, its impact on our roads, and how to avoid being involved in a fatigue-related crash.

If you would like more information, contact Council's Road Safety Officer via email

Seniors Safety - On the road 65+

On the road 65Plus has advice and safety tips for people in our community aged 65 or over to help make safer choices when driving, riding, walking, using a mobility scooter or catching public transport.

The Centre for Road Safety provides a number of checklists to help you and your loved ones develop safer driving habits and make better choices when walking and crossing the road.

The Road Safety Officer is available to present talks on Road Safety specifically addressing safety tips and issues for the over 65's in our community. For more information or to make a booking please contact usha.arvind@burwood.nsw.gov.au or call 9911 9912

Motor Cycle Riders - Ride to Live

  Burwood Council supports the NSW Centre for Road Safety's Ride to Live campaign. The campaign gives riders helpful information about the risks they face on the road and how they can best manage them. 

Ride to live .jpg

In 2019, 11% of all accidents in Burwood involved motorcyclists, with Rider Fatigue continuing to be a major cause of motorcycle crashes. 

Riders are also encouraged to visit the Ride to Live website. Here, they can test their skills, plan their ride from a list of NSW rides. 

Rider Fatigue

Riding a motorcycle is far more physically and mentally demanding than driving a vehicle. Rider fatigue is more likely to be a response to physical and mental exhaustion. Fatigue may also be increased by exposure to hot and cold weather, noise and buffeting from strong winds and dehydration.

If you wish to obtain information regarding Motor Cycle safety, report problem areas or get involved, please get in touch with Council's Road Safety Officer via Email