Eurobodalla's road casualty stats revealed, council wants input on safety plan

Eurobodalla Shire Council wants to understand the experiences of Eurobodalla’s road users through an online survey. Photo: ESC.

Four people die and 28 are seriously injured on Eurobodalla roads each year, statistics show, and council wants your help in understanding what its roads are like for motorists.

From 2008 to 2017, 30 people died and 520 were seriously injured on the shire’s roads, the Eurobodalla Road Safety Plan 2019-2022 reports.

Almost half of these crashes happened on the Kings and Princes Highways.

A new survey launched by Eurobodalla Shire Council says there were 606 reported crashes on the shire’s roads between 2017 and 2021 which resulted in 592 casualties, 20 of them being fatal.

Council is now looking at updating the shire’s road safety plan and is calling on road users to have their input on it via a short survey.

“Once we have gathered all the information, we can outline the measures we need to undertake to help keep everyone safe as they drive, bus, scooter, cycle and walk around the Eurobodalla,” council says.

“The plan will identify and prioritise road safety projects for the next three years and provide crucial support for grant funding applications.

“We will continue to advocate for funding on behalf of our community to implement the key directions within the plan.”

Council’s road safety officer Kate McDougall said the community should be aiming for zero deaths on its roads.

She said the latest statistics showed speeding was involved in 45 per cent of crashes in the Eurobodalla, while 57 per cent of crashes were on state managed roads such as the Princes and Kings Highways.

“Basically we are going too fast on our highways,” Ms McDougall said.

She wants Eurobodalla’s residents and visitors to participate in the survey so council can better understand the current experience of road users, whether they be drivers, pedestrians, cyclists or road workers.

“You can find the survey on council’s website or collect a hard copy at one of the shire’s libraries,” she said.

The survey is open until the end of May.