Sara Storer

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Road Safety

Between 2013 – 2017 there were 245 casualties (people killed or injured) in the Moree Plains Shire in 173 crashes. Of this number 12 were killed (around 5% of all casualties).

Road safety is therefore an important element of the core business of Moree Plains Shire. Council has a strong commitment to improving road safety outcomes through implementation of a coordinated partnership approach.

Achieving lasting change in road safety will require council, industry and the broader community to work together. Moree Plains Shire Council acknowledges that Road safety is a shared responsibility and that changes to the way people think and act about road safety – whether it be road planners, designers or builders, vehicle engineers or fleet operators, policy makers or business professionals, or individual road users going about our everyday activity is required to achieve our road safety goals and as such have adopted the Safer Systems approach to road safety.

Human Tolerance of Crash Impacts

The initiatives and options are set out in four key areas: Safe Roads, Safe Speeds, Safe Vehicles and Safe people. The Safe System approach is underpinned by three guiding principles:

  • People will always make mistakes on our roads but should not be killed or seriously injured as a consequence.
  • There are known limits to the forces the human body can tolerate without being seriously harmed.
  • The road transport system should be designed and managed so that people are not exposed to crash forces beyond the limits of their physical tolerance.

Awareness campaigns targeting all aspects of road user safety have been designed and implements, such as:

  • Child restraints
  • Bicycle and helmet safety
  • School Zone Safety
  • Young drivers
  • Speed
  • Drink Driving
  • Drug Driving
  • Fatigue
  • Seatbelts
  • Motorcycles
  • Heavy vehicles

 

National Child Restraint Laws:

All children must be safely fastened in the correct child car seat for their age and size. A child who is properly secured in an approved child car seat is less likely to be injured or killed in a car crash than one who is not.

  • Children up to the age of six months must be secured in an approved rearward facing restraint
  • Children aged from six months old but under four years old must be secured in either a rear or forward facing approved child restraint with an inbuilt harness
  • Children under four years old cannot travel in the front seat of a vehicle with two or more rows
  • Children aged from four years old but under seven years old must be secured in a forward facing approved child restraint with an inbuilt harness or an approved booster seat
  • Children aged from four years old but under seven years old cannot travel in the front seat of a vehicle with two or more rows, unless all other back seats are occupied by children younger than seven years in an approved child restraint or booster seat
  • Children aged from seven years old but under 16 years old who are too small to be restrained by a seatbelt properly adjusted and fastened are strongly recommended to use an approved booster seat
  • Children in booster seats must be restrained by a suitable lap and sash type approved seatbelt that is properly adjusted and fastened, or by a suitable approved child safety harness that is properly adjusted and fastened.

If your child is too small for the child restraint specified for their age, they should be kept in their current child restraint until it is safe for them to move to the next level. If your child is too large for the child restraint specified for their age, they may move to the next level of child restraint.

Fatigue

FreeCuppa logoMoree Plains Shire Council is one of many local government areas that support the Free Cuppa for the driver Road Safety Program which runs from 1 March to 31 May; with a number of businesses participating across the shire annually.

For further information or to register your interest as a participating business in the next phase of Free Cuppa for the driver please visit the Free Cuppa Website

 

Local Crash Statistics

Crash Fact One - Casualties

Between 2013 – 2017 there were 245 casualties (people killed or injured) in the Moree Plains Shire in 173 casualty crashes. Of this number 12 were killed (around 5% of all casualties).

Killed

Seriously Injured

Moderately Injured

Minor/Other Injured

Total

12 46 110 77 245

 

Crash Fact Two - Behavioural Factors in Casualty Crashes

In the Moree Plains Shire speed, alcohol and fatigue are all significant casualty crash factors.

 Speed  17.9%
 Alcohol  3.5%
 Fatigue  16.2%

 

Crash Fact Three - Types of VehiclesCasualty Crashes by Vehicle Type

Cars are the primary vehicle type involved in crashes where people are killed or injured, involved in 59% of casualty crashes.

Trucks are involved in over 50% of casualty crashes across the shire. Over 30.6% of truck crashes involved light trucks. Around 18% of truck crashes involve articulated trucks (articulated tanker, semi-trailer, low loader, road train and B-double).

Motorcycles are involved in 14.4% of crashes.

 

Crash Fact Four - Gender and Age of Road User

Controllers by age group and gender

Young people represent a significant number of vehicle controllers. Around 32% of all vehicle controllers across the Shire are young people aged between 17 – 29 years.

Other high risk groups are people aged 40 – 49 years, representing 17% of all controllers, and people aged 50 - 59 years representing 14.7% of all controllers .

Males represent around 67% of all controllers, with high risk groups mirroring those mentioned above.

 

 

Crash Fact Five - Day of the Week and Month of Year Most Likely to Crash

Over a 24 hour day the risk of having a crash is greatest on a Tuesday and  Friday. However, the risk is not significantly different across most days of the week. September has a significantly higher crash rate than other months. Most other months have a consistent rate of crashes, although the June and August crash rates are low at around half the crash rate of September.

Casualty Crashes by the month of the year

Casualty Crashes by day of the week

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crash Fact Six - Residence of Controller Involved in Casualty Crashes

Controllers by age group and gender

Around 47% of motor vehicle controllers involved in casualty crashes reside in the Moree Plains Shire.

A significant number of controllers (27%) involved in crashes reside interstate or overseas. Given Moree Plains Shire’s proximity to the Newell Highway, it is likely that a high proportion of interstate residents are traveling from or towards the Queensland border.

Outside of Moree Plains, residents from Gwydir (2.2%) and Narrabri (2.2%) have the highest NSW resident casualty crash involvement.

 

Crash Fact Seven - Crashes by Road Classification

Over 67% of the casualty crashes occur on State Highways and other classified roads in the Moree Plains Shire. Remaining crashes occur on local roads.

 Residence of Controller by LGA and Degree of Crash

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crash Fact Eight - Class of License

People holding standard licenses are those most likely to be involved in a fatal or injury crash within the Moree Plains Shire (42%).
Motor vehicle controllers on a provisional license are at some risk, attributing to nearly 5% of all fatal and injury crashes.
Similarly, unlicensed drivers were involved in nearly 4% of all fatal and injury crashes. Only 1.5% of casualty crashes involved a learner driver.

Crash Fact Nine - Pedestrians

Of the 11 casualty crashes recorded, one pedestrian was killed in 2014. Pedestrians account for 9.1% of all those killed or injured on roads.

Crash Fact Ten - Pedal Cyclists

The number of reported crashes involving pedal cyclists is low as a percentage of the crash problem in the Moree Plains. Pedal cyclist crashes make up less than 2% of crashes.

 

For further information about Road Safety in NSW

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Phone: 02 6757 3222

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