Member for Davidson, Jonathan O’Dea has welcomed a new $15 million commitment by the NSW Government to help fund road safety officer positions in local councils.
Mr O’Dea said the Local Government Road Safety program will see council officers receive longer-term funding for projects that address road safety issues specific to their local community.
“The NSW Government is committed to road safety and this program supports the work undertaken by Councils such as Ku-ring-gai and Warringah to address issues in the Davidson electorate,” Mr O’Dea said.
“Some of the projects include speeding on local roads, drink driving and fatigue. Other projects target correct use and installation of child restraints, pedestrian safety and workshops on road safety for older road users.”
“The work road safety officers undertake within local councils is invaluable in helping to save lives and change the attitudes of people using on our roads,” Mr O’Dea said.
Funding for the new program is $5 million a year for 3 years.
The program will be run by Transport for NSW’s Centre for Road Safety and is in addition to other NSW Government initiatives to improve road safety including: the establishment of a Traffic and Highway Patrol command centre and the record roll out of flashing lights, which will see every NSW school with a set by the end of 2015.
Mr O’Dea said, “Road safety officers are employed under a 50/50 funding agreement to deliver behavioural and educational road safety projects that address local issues.
“Progress reporting will be made through project milestone reports and annual evaluation reports with ongoing funding assessed on performance and delivery of projects.
“This new arrangement will provide greater certainty of funding for road safety officer positions and encourage the implementation of well-planned projects which can be implemented over three years,” Mr O’Dea said.
