We want you to get home safely so Bicycle NSW has been contributing to the development of the Code of Practice for Temporary Traffic Management to help make the roads safer for people riding bikes and walking.
Temporary traffic management is most often used as part of construction projects where roads, footpaths and cycleways are impacted. Bicycle NSW receives daily pictures of projects that demonstrate that some project and traffic managers completely misunderstand or ignore their obligations to people riding bikes and walking.
These include:
- Leaving holes and trip hazards in paths
- Adding barriers, bollards and features that exclude riders, prams and wheelchairs from pathways
- Failing to turn on temporary lighting
- Poor or no signage to direct people to use detours
- Introducing lips, curbs and obstacles into paths
- Forcing people to walk or ride in busy traffic without protection
- Closing cycleways and footpaths and failing to provide detours, or providing detours that are so long and onerous they will not be used
We advocate for individuals, government and project managers to improve practice. The development of national regulations, processes and procedures will help by providing consistent standards that all construction managers can be held accountable for.
“There are so many construction projects in NSW and we want safer standards so project and construction managers act to prevent riders getting injured,” said General Manager of Public Affairs, Bastien Wallace.
Bicycle NSW has made a submission on the Austroads Code of Practice and we will comment on the processes and procedures.
“We’re working and campaigning on improving safe construction management because we know everyone benefits from preventing injuries,” said Bastien.
We encourage riders, Councils and everyone with an interest in safer roads to comment by Wednesday the 17th of July.
