December 7, 2021
Road safety in Surf Coast Shire survey
Locals and visitors invited to comment on road safety in Surf Coast Shire this summer.
Road users will have an opportunity to nominate their priority road safety concerns with the launch of a new Surf Coast Shire Council road safety survey.
The survey will be used to inform the development of a new Road Safety Strategy and Action Plan for 2022-2027.
The new strategy will consider safety for all road users including motorists, pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists, as well as operators of freight, commercial and agricultural vehicles.
Surf Coast Shire Cr Adrian Schonfelder said the survey was an important step in the development of the strategy.
“Road safety is a matter for all of us and the individual experiences of road users will give us a valuable insight into local issues.”
“I encourage everyone to complete the survey – it’s a few minutes of time that could make a valuable difference,” said Cr Adrian Schonfelder.
“We are keeping the survey open until January with a view to capturing comments from both locals and visitors.
“Already we know some of the broad safety themes relevant to our shire – including the fact that Surf Coast Shire combines urban settings with rural roads and relies on three major arterial roads, the Surf Coast Highway, the Princes Highway and the Great Ocean Road.
“We know Surf Coast Shire has seen an average population growth of 3.1% in the past 15 years and the peak holiday season population can be three times greater than our permanent population.
“And we know that people’s experience of our roads and pathways is different depending on what mode of transport they use at the time – so we hope to hear from all users,” said Cr Schonfelder.
Between 2014 and 2019 16 people died in road crashes in Surf Coast Shire. In the same period there were 474 crashes where someone was injured, 203 of which resulted in a serious injury.
The survey is available at www.surfcoast.vic.gov.au/roadsafetystrategy and is open from 22 November 2021 until 5 January 2022.
Surf Coast Council has been working on a related project, the Surf Coast Shire Safer Cycling Strategy and Action Plan over the last nine months. Council received more than 600 responses to a survey on cycling safety and this data has been used to develop a draft Safer Cycling Strategy.
The draft Safer Cycling Strategy is available for comment from Monday 29 November until 5 January 2022 at www.surfcoast.vic.gov.au/safercycling. People are welcome to provide input into the development of a new Road Safety Strategy and to comment on the draft Safer Cycling Strategy if they wish.
