Road safety & enforcement

The Safe Seat Service scheduled for Tuesday, 7 April 2020 at St Lukes Oval car park, Concord has been postponed in light of the COVID-19 virus.

Given widespread concerns about the Coronavirus and to ensure the safety of our community, many of the City of Canada Bay’s regular program of events and activities have been suspended. 

The health and safety of our community is of paramount importance and the City of Canada Bay will continue to monitor and follow the advice of State and Federal authorities. 

If you would like to receive important information and updates on Council services, and find out when events will resume, please sign up to our email newsletter: bit.ly/ccbenewsletter  

To keep up to date with the City of Canada Bay's COVID-19 response, click here.

Child restraint regulations apply for children up to seven years of age:

• Children younger than six months must be secured in a rearward facing restraint
• Children aged six months to under four years must be secured in either a rear or forward facing restraint
• Children aged four years to under seven years must be secured in forward facing child restraint or booster seat
• Children younger than four years cannot travel in the front seat of a vehicle with two or more rows
• Children aged four years to under seven years cannot travel in the front seat of a vehicle with two or more rows, unless all other back seats are occupied by children younger than seven years in a child restraint or booster seat.

The Centre for Road Safety provides more details about the new regulations as well as information about child restraints on its website, including how to choose the right restraint for your child.

Related links:

• Kids and Traffic
• Kid Safe NSW
• Make the Safest Choice

Related links:

• Seatbelts

In 2016, alcohol was a contributing factor in 2 per cent of all crashes in the City of Canada Bay. Drink driving is an offence with large fines and loss of demerit points applying in New South Wales. For more information, please refer to the Roads and Maritime Service guide to offences and penalties.

Know your limit:

Your Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) is the amount of alcohol you have in your system in grams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood. A BAC of 0.05 means you have 0.05 grams (50 milligrams) of alcohol in every 100 millilitres of blood. 

What is a standard drink?

A standard drink is a measure of alcohol  that helps people monitor their level of alcohol consumption.

All the drinks shown are different sizes but each of them has about 10 grams of alcohol which is the equivalent of one standard drink. The drinks are different sizes because some are stronger (have more alcohol) than others.

Please note: a glass of wine is often poured in amounts greater than a standard drink. A wine glass is misleading and can typically hold 1.5 to 1.8 standard drinks.

For further information please refer to the NSW Health Alcohol information sheet here.

Plan B:

Don’t drink and drive. You need to plan ahead to get home safely after a night out – if you’ve been drinking, don’t drive. Make a positive choice to get home safely the next time you are out drinking.

Drink driving is one of the biggest causes of death and injury on NSW roads. Men make up 87 per cent of drink drivers in fatal crashes. In 2016 where alcohol involvement was known, alcohol was a contributing factor in 814 road crashes in New South Wales, 51 of those fatal.  Out of all fatal crashes that occurred on New South Wales roads in 2016, 42 per cent took place on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.  

Managing alcohol consumption:

• Either drink or drive, never both
• Arrange your transport home the day before your night out
• Separate taxi money from spending money in your wallet
• Set up an ‘emergency call’ with a friend or family member who will pick you up if you change your mind about drinking
• Host your party responsibly. Offer food with alcohol, offer guest to stay the night, or help them get a taxi home
• Always allow guests to set their own drinking pace
• Respect a person’s choice of a sober night out.

The effects of alcohol are wide ranging and impossible to avoid. After a big night out you may still have alcohol in your system for much of the next day. Getting back to zero takes time. After a heavy night of drinking, it can take more than 18 hours for your BAC to get back to zero. Click here for more information.

Case study:

Did you know?

• Fatigue is one of the big three killers on NSW roads
• Fatigue-related crashes are twice as likely to be fatal – drivers who are asleep can’t brake
• In 2016, fatigue related crashes increased by 45 per cent to 1,229 on New South Wales roads, which is 466 more than alcohol related crashes for the same time period.
• Being awake for about 17 hours has a similar effect on performance as a blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.05.

Fatigue-related crashes can happen on any trip no matter how long or short or what time of day. It’s important to think about how tired you are before driving, recognising the early warning signs when driving and know what to do to avoid driving tired.

Tips to avoid driving tired:

Before you drive, consider the following:

• Get a good night’s sleep
• Avoid driving at night when your body will naturally want to sleep
• Arrange to share the driving
• Avoid long drives after work
• Plan to take regular breaks from driving (use rest areas). Click here to see where the NSW rest areas are located to help plan your trip (identified by the green icon on the map)
• Catch a cab or public transport
• Ask someone for a lift
• Find out if any medicine you are taking may affect your driving
• Know what the early warning signs of fatigue are.   

Click to‘Test your tired self’ here.

If you feel tired when driving, consider the following:

• Pull over for a break in a safe place
• Pull over for a nap (20 minutes works best)
• Swap drivers if you can
• Stop for a coffee if you’re on a short drive.  Be aware that the effects of caffeine won’t help for long and won’t work for everyone. Caffeine is not suitable for some people and can be harmful. Limits on the daily consumption of caffeine are recommended
• Even if you don’t feel tired, take regular breaks to avoid becoming tired.

Driver Reviver sites:

Did you know that the Driver Reviver program operates throughout Australia during school holidays and over long weekends to reduce fatigue-related crashes on our roads?

Click the above logo to see where the NSW Driver Reviver Programs are located to help plan your trip (identified by the yellow icons on the map).

Related links:

• The dangers of having a microsleep

Council’s Parking Enforcement Team play an important role in creating a safe and accessible environment for both pedestrians and motorists. The team is most active around schools and shopping precincts to protect children and assist businesses with parking turn-over. 

Please read our Pocket Parking Guide below for more information about:

• Why rangers have a zero tolerance approach around school zones
• Options when you receive an infringement notice
• Explanation of parking signs and offences (e.g. drivers are not permitted to park their vehicle within 10m of an intersection).

More information

• City of Canada Bay Pocket Parking Guide

In 2016, The City of Canada Bay had a total of 18 people seriously injured and 1 fatality due to pedestrian related road crashes. Pedestrians need to ‘Look Out Before You Step Out’ to avoid conflict with motor vehicles before crossing the road. Below is advice for both pedestrians and drivers to follow to ensure that the number of serious injuries and fatalities are reduced on NSW roads.

Advice for pedestrians:

• Look before you cross. Just because someone else decides to cross, doesn’t mean it’s safe for you
• Unplug your earphones and put away your phone
• Never assume that an approaching vehicle can see you, or will stop for you – wait until all vehicles have stopped before you step off the kerb
• Avoid crossing between parked cars or at the front or back of buses and large vehicles
• Speed humps are not designated as pedestrian crossings and are an unsafe place to cross the road. Drivers are not anticipating a pedestrian to be crossing at this point and do not need to stop. Choose a marked pedestrian crossing or a signalised crossing to cross the road safely
• At intersections, check for turning vehicles before you leave the kerb, and while you are crossing the road
• Wear bright, light coloured clothing at night or in reduced visibility conditions.

Where is the safety place to cross a road?

• Whenever possible, cross at a pedestrian crossing, traffic signal or pedestrian refuge.
• Make sure you have a clear view of approaching traffic, and where drivers can see you.
• If you cannot cross the whole road in one attempt, wait on the pedestrian refuge or median strip.

Even if you are familiar with the road, it’s vital to take an extra moment to look out before you step out, and always choose the safest place and time to cross.

Advice for drivers:

As a rule, drivers must give way to pedestrians crossing the road into which their vehicles are turning. Drivers must also give way to pedestrians if there is a danger of colliding with them, even if there is no marked pedestrian crossing. As a vehicle’s speed increases, so does the risk of injury or death to pedestrians hit in a crash. Follow the following helpful tips to assist driving safely in the City of Canada Bay

• Slow down on roads where there are likely to be a lot of pedestrians, especially near schools and shopping centres; near hotels there are likely to be pedestrians who have been drinking
• Be aware that pedestrians are hard to see at night and in poor weather
• Don’t assume that a pedestrian has seen you and will wait for you to go past
• Be mindful that vulnerable pedestrians may need extra time to cross – children can be difficult to see and may act unpredictably

Pedestrian safety for children

The best way to keep young children safe from traffic injuries is to hold their hand or hold them close. By holding onto children, you can stop them running into dangerous situations. Even though children may complain about holding hands, by making family rules about safe walking, explaining them and reinforcing safe behaviour, you will help children learn how to become safer pedestrians.

As a parent or carer, you can assist in teaching your child to safely cross the road by discussing these helpful questions and tips with your child when crossing the road:

• Where it is safe to walk and cross the road?
• When it is safe to walk and cross the road?
• What to look for
• What to listen for
• The need to stop and wait at the side of the road before crossing
• The need to keep checking until they are safely across the road or the driveway

Motorised Wheelchairs

A motorised wheelchair user is generally considered to be a pedestrian, and must comply with the NSW Road Rules that apply to pedestrians. For more information regarding motorised wheelchairs and scooters please clink here

Useful links:

Pedestrians Crossings

Vulnerable pedestrians

Skateboards, foot scooters & rollerblades

Kids and Traffic – pedestrian safety for early childhood education

Safety Town – pedestrian safety messages for parents with infants and primary aged school children

Pedestrian Safety – Traditional Chinese

Pedestrian Safety – Korean

Pedestrian Safety - English

School Zones: Understanding the Rules

School zones

40km/h school zones help protect children on their way to and from schools at the times and places where they are often in high numbers. This lower speed limit reduces the risk and potential severity of a crash. School zone signs, dragon’s teeth road markings and flashing lights improve the visibility of school zones. Click the video below to brush up on your school zone road rule knowledge.

School zone times

Most school zones operate from 8am to 9:30am and from 2:30pm to 4pm. However, there are a small number of non-standard school zone times in NSW which are identified by red/orange school zone signs showing the times when the school zone operates.

School zone days

40km/h school zones are in force on all days which are not a weekend, a public holiday or a publicly notified school holiday for government schools. The table below identifies the days that school zones are in force in 2020.  

School zone days (as shown above) include school development days, also known as student-free days, because some students may attend their school on these days.

Protecting our children

Motorists must drive no faster than 40 km/h through school zones. Increased fines and demerit points apply for certain school zone offences, with illegal use of mobile phones and speeding among those included in double demerit periods. The Roads and Maritime website has information on fines and demerit point offences.

The Keeping our kids safe around schools resource from The Centre for Road Safety provides valuable information for parents and children to improve road safety around schools.

Helpful tips

Do you know the road rules and parking signage in and around your School Zone?

The City of Canada Bay in partnership with the Roads and Maritime Service (RMS) has compiled a helpful poster for your school community. Download the flyer below for more information:

• School zones: understanding the rules (English)
• School zones: understanding the rules (Chinese)

What can I do to help?

As a shared responsibility, parents, teachers and school students all play a vital role in remaining safe around schools. To help encourage the road safety message, the NSW Government has complied useful Road Safety Education Programs which can be delivered in the classroom or at home. Click on the below links to see how you can help educate your child at home to ensure that they remain safe.

• For students K - 6
• For students Years 7-12

Useful links

• School Zones
• Drop-off and Pick-up zone: Safetytips
• School Zone offences

Related information

• School Parking Information
• School zones: understanding the rules (English)
• School zones: understanding the rules (Chinese)

The City of Canada Bay's new speed reduction campaign is now in full swing. To encourage drivers to travel at an appropriate speed and increase awareness of the local street speed limit, the City of Canada Bay is providing free wheelie bin stickers to residents in the Council area. 

If you would like to be part of this road safety initiative, two wheelie bin stickers A4 in size (210 x 297mm) will be provided free of charge with an instruction guide of how to install the stickers on your general garbage (red lid) wheelie bin. 

To order your wheelie bin stickers (two per household), please complete your order here. The two free wheelie bin stickers will be available until exhausted. 

The City of Canada Bay has temporary speed radar displays at various locations across the Council area. This interactive technology alerts motorists to their speed of travel and provides visual cues through LED displays to encourage safe driver behaviour (a smiley face) or remind motorists to slow down (a sad face).

These displays are installed for varying durations with many regularly moved between a number of identified locations to maximise their effectiveness at reducing vehicle speeds in the area. 

Speeding - which encompasses excessive speed (driving above the speed limits) or inappropriate speed (driving too fast for the prevailing conditions) is recognised as a major contributory factor in both the number and severity of traffic crashes. 

As a vehicle’s speed increases, so does the distance travelled during the driver’s reaction time (reaction distance) and the distance needed to stop (braking distance).

Speed limits are set by the Roads and Maritime Services and are intended to reflect the road safety risk to the road users while maintaining the ability of people to easily get to their destination.

Default speed limits:

Where there is no posted speed limit sign, default speed limits apply. 

In NSW there are two default speed limits, default urban speed limit for roads in built-up areas (i.e. where there are buildings next to the road or where there is street lighting) and a default speed limit for all other roads.

• Default urban speed limit is 50 km/h
• Default speed limit for all other roads is 100 km/h.

High pedestrian activity:

The maximum speed limit is 40km/h at all times. Changes in the road environment are made to help alert drivers to the lower speed limit and make them aware of the presence of pedestrians moving about or near the road.   

This creates a safer road environment for all road users, particularly for pedestrians, cyclists and children.

The City of Canada Bay has worked closely with the Roads and Maritime Services to have High Pedestrian Activity Areas implemented in sections of the following roads:

• Majors Bay Road, Concord
• Henley Marine Drive, Drummoyne
• Roseby Street, Drummoyne
• George Street, North Strathfield
• Mary Street, Rider Boulevard, Walker Street, Rhodes.

Form more information concerning Safe Speed Limits from the Roads and Maritime Service (RMS), please click here.  

Speeding enforcement:

If your vehicle is detected by a fixed speed camera, mobile speed camera or a Police Officer and a penalty notice is issued, you will incur a fine and licence demerit points. Learner and P1 licence holders will have their licence suspended for at least three months for any speeding offence.

The Demerit Points Scheme is a national program that allocates penalty points (demerits) for a range of driving offences. The scheme is designed to encourage safe and responsible driving. Along with financial penalties, demerit points provide a strong incentive to drive within the law.

Increased fines and demerit points apply to certain traffic and parking offences committed within operating School Zones. See the NSW Centre for Road Safety website for information about when School Zones are in force.

List of speeding offences and penalties:

See Speeding offences for a list of speeding offences, or you can search demerit point offences.

The City of Canada Bay in conjunction with the Roads and Maritime Service (RMS) is offering a free workshop for parents and supervisors of learner drivers, offering practical advice on how to help learner drivers become safer drivers.

The ‘Supervisor of learner driver’ workshop scheduled for Thursday, 9 April 2020 at Concord Library has been postponed in light of the COVID-19 virus.

Given widespread concerns about the Coronavirus and to ensure the safety of our community, many of the City of Canada Bay’s regular program of events and activities have been suspended. 

The health and safety of our community is of paramount importance and the City of Canada Bay will continue to monitor and follow the advice of State and Federal authorities. 

If you would like to receive important information and updates on Council services, and find out when events will resume, please sign up to our email newsletter: bit.ly/ccbenewsletter  

To keep up to date with the City of Canada Bay's COVID-19 response, click here.

Related links:

•  Learner licence
•  Service NSW
•  Geared
•  Driver Knowledge Test (DKT)