North Sydney Council in collaboration with Lane Cove & Willoughby Councils has launched ‘It’s Local. It’s 50!’ Speed Campaign, once again, and this year we are asking drivers if they are ‘strong enough to drop & give us fifty’.
Statistics from all three Council areas shows a disturbing number of crashes on roads, including a high number of casualty accidents. In the five-year period 2012-2016:
- there were 2,312 crashes;
- 20 were fatalities and 2,292 included serious, moderate and minor injuries;
- The highest proportion of crashes also occurred in the 50km/h zones, with North Sydneyaccounting for 44% of all crashes; Lane Cove accounting for 42% of all crashes, and Willoughby accounting for 45% of all crashes;
- males made up the highest proportion of driver casualties with 63%of total casualties in North Sydney; 61% in Lane Cove and 60% in Willoughby;
- Speeding was also the greatest contributing factor for all crashes, with the highest proportion being males 21-39 years of age;
- North Sydney and Willoughby Council’s both had speeding as a factor in 10% of all crashes while Lane Cove had 14% of crashes involving speed. This accounted for a total of 383 crashes across the three Council areas.
It’s Local. It’s 50! Speed Campaign aims to:
- Change consumer behaviour, especially young male drivers 21-39 years, in regards to the perception and acceptability of speeding within local 50 km/h areas;
- Promote & instil a sense of responsibility on drivers, in general, to do the right thing and go 50 km/h on our local roads;
- Raise awareness of the default 50km/h speed limit on all local roads;
- Decrease the incidents of crashes on our roads.