Rate Your Road & Trauma report released – Regional

Rural and regional areas are hardest hit by cost of road trauma, NRMA’s Rate Your Road report finds, with Upper Lachlan, Tenterfield and Narrabri council areas costing local taxpayers thousands more.

The NRMA’s Rate Your Road report has identified the per capita cost of deaths and injuries over a five-year period across NSW and unveils new data into the public’s view on the condition of the roads in those areas, highlighting the undisputable link between road quality and safety.

“The increase in cost between metropolitan and rural road trauma incidents is really quite staggering. Crashes in Upper Lachlan cost nearly double the average per capita as they do in metropolitan Sydney. It’s really a wake up call that investment in road safety infrastructure for the regions should not be an afterthought by government,” NRMA Spokesman Peter Khoury said.

Since the NRMA launched its Rate Your Road campaign, the organisation has successfully advocated for almost $2 billion in new road funding from the NSW and Australian Governments, including funding during COVID-19 to keep projects moving and support employment. The NSW Government has also committed to  transfer up to 15,000 kilometres of council-managed regional roads to the State to lessen the financial burden on those councils.

NRMA spokesperson Peter Khoury said, with the Budget Estimates season now underway at the state and Federal level, this detailed report could help Governments identify areas needed for additional road funding.

“There’s no way to quantify the human cost of road accidents, but calculating the cost to taxpayers is one way to help identify the need for more funding to improve road conditions and road safety,” Mr Khoury said.

“One of the reasons we’re kicking off this campaign is that, despite record-breaking levels of road infrastructure investment, there is still a lot more to do in the regions. We want the focus to be on improving road conditions and safety, and that’s really what we’re hearing from motorists through this survey.

“It’s clear from these results that poor road conditions aren’t isolated to any one region – it’s a much larger problem – one we believe is primarily driven by the budgetary constraints on Councils.

“This is also why the NRMA supports the NSW Government’s policy of transferring more of the regional road network into the jurisdiction of the State Government, provided this has no negative impact on existing funding for councils – it’s about increasing and prioritising funding for the poorest roads across the state,” Mr Khoury said.

To view the full report for each region, click below:

• Cox Report (505kb/21 pages)
• Harbour Report (607kb/22 pages)
• Hoddle Report (632kb/20 pages)
• Howe Report (581kb/20 pages)
• Mann Report (629kb/24 pages)
• Townsend Report (569kb/24 pages)

Contact: John MacGowan