Road Safety, Rail Trails and Regional Resilience

Riders enjoy the Gears + Beers ride in the picturesque countryside around Wagga. All routes lead to a craft beer festival. Gears + Beers is fast becoming a must do event for cyclists who like quality beer at the end of a ride! (Image: Gears + Beers)

The recently released NSW Active Transport Strategy acknowledges that car dependency is higher in country towns than in cities. As a consequence, due to lack of physical activity, a national study found that residents in regional areas are up to three times more likely to suffer from obesity-related health issues than residents of the North Shore of Sydney. Safety of vulnerable road users, therefore, particularly in the bush, is a key issue. In our submission to the National Road Safety Summit, Road Safety in Rural Communities for all, Bicycle NSW called for reduced speed limits:

30 km/h limit on residential streets and town centres where there is a mix of bicycle riders and motor vehicle traffic
50km/h in other areas with intersections and a high risk of side collisions
70km/h on rural roads without a median barrier to reduce risk of head-on collisions.

Rail Trails

The new NSW Active Transport Strategy affirms that we need to "investigate reusing non-operational assets to support the visitor economy, through initiatives such as rail trails" to encourage regional active transport.

Country NSW is laced with railways. Some are in use but others have been derelict for decades. The successful passing of the Transport Administration Amendment (Rail Trails) Bill 2022 enables the creation of new rail trails and the extension of existing ones. This is great news for regional communities who will benefit from a significant income stream through bicycle tourism. Rail trails will link communities and build resilience to climate change.

One of the many bridges on the idyllic future Northern Rivers Rail Trail route. (Photo: Tweed Shire Council)

Rail trails will form a spine around which a regional active transport network can be developed. In order to create a complete, safe and useful network, a range of ingredients are essential. These include lower speed limits, wide road shoulders, quietways through town centres, and buses and trains which welcome unboxed bicycles. Bicycle NSW continues to advocate for a fully-integrated approach to developing cycling infrastructure.

What can we all do to make country cycling safer, sooner?

Join the Bicycle NSW state election campaign for Better Streets. Visit our election webpage and ask your local candidates:

Will you help advocate for a doubling of the active transport budget?
Will you help advocate to enforce laws to make bicycle riding safer?
Do you support Better Streets initiatives such as 30 km/h speed limits, safe routes to school and quietways?
Will you help advocate for education, infrastructure and programs in your electorate to accelerate a mode shift from car dependency to bicycle riding, walking and public transport?
Why do you see active travel as important in your electorate?
If elected, which projects will you advocate for to achieve better outcomes for walking and bicycle riding?