Traffic & road safety
Kempsey Shire Council’s traffic and road safety team supports the planning, design, construction and operation of transport infrastructure assets in the shire. This is done in the context of the values and objectives of the Macleay Valley 2036 Community Strategic Plan.
We aim for our road users to have:
- safer roads, safer speeds and safer behaviour
- accessible cycleways and footpaths
- bus service public infrastructure facilities
- functional and safe traffic management facilities.
Road users include people using all modes of transport, such as driving, cycling and walking. People with disability are always considered in our service delivery.
How to report an issue to Council
To make a traffic or road safety request to Council, you can:
When you report an issue to us, we aim to acknowledge your request and let you know how we plan to respond. We then follow this up to confirm Council’s proposed actions.
Our services
Our traffic and road safety team provides a range of traffic management and road safety services. For example, we:
- investigate and respond to traffic and road safety related customer requests
- advise customers on our planning for cycleways and footpaths
- support road safety education and awareness activities in partnership with Transport for NSW
- plan for traffic management facilities such as pedestrian crossings, traffic calming devices, and regulatory and warning signs
- administer the Local Traffic Committee
- seek external funding assistance under the federal and state governments' safer roads and active transport programs
- support road safety around schools.
Road safety
All levels of government are responsible for ensuring the safety of road users, with the principal aim of reducing road accidents and associated trauma.
Local Government Road Safety Program
The Local Government Road Safety Program is designed to raise the profile of road safety in New South Wales.
In the context of a safe system approach, Council delivers road safety services and actions in partnership with the NSW Centre for Road Safety and Transport for NSW. Our services include:
- Safer roads – Supporting the design and delivery of safer roads through design advice and seeking external funding for safer road improvements under federal and state government programs
- Safer speeds – Developing and delivering, in partnership with Transport for NSW, education and awareness programs designed to reduce speeding and compliance with regulated speed zones
- Safer people – Developing and delivering, in partnership with Transport for NSW, education and awareness programs designed to improve road user behaviour with respect to drink driving, fatigue, safety equipment and road rule compliance, to name a few.
Road safety action plans
Council is committed to the development and delivery of the following action plans for 2022-23:
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Cone Zone Slow Down - Providing education and increasing awareness of safe driving and compliance with road rules while travelling through roadworks
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Road Safety is Smart Business – Providing education and increasing awareness of safer driver behaviour to reduce workplace road trauma.
Child seat restraints
Child car seats reduce injuries and deaths. All children must be safely fastened in the correct child car seat for their age and size. A child who is properly secured in an approved child car seat is less likely to be injured or killed in a car crash than one who is not.
Car seat fitting centres in Kempsey Shire:
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Anderson Automotive - 34 Forth Street, Kempsey NSW 02 6563 1176
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Macleay Valley Automotive - Unit 14/21-39 Angus McNeil Crescent, Kempsey NSW 02 6562 2644
Traffic management facilities
Traffic management facilities contribute to the making of safer roads, safer speeds and safer people. Council traffic management services include the planning, design and delivery of traffic management facilities, including:
- traffic control devices such as roundabouts and traffic signals
- pedestrian crossings and refuges
- traffic-calming devices such as slow points and raised platforms
- regulatory signs such as parking signs, speed zones and stop signs.
Cycleways and footpaths
Council provides cycleways and footpaths as part of its transport infrastructure services. Planning for cycleways and footpaths is detailed in the following documents, which have been endorsed by Council:
These plans were developed based on extensive community and stakeholder consultations to determine suitable actions to address specific site and behavioural issues.
The plans also list high-priority actions to help Council determine its annual budget allocations for transport services and works programs.
Local Traffic Committee
The Local Traffic Committee is a technical review committee that Council refers matters to for consideration. The committee has no decision-making powers and only considers prescribed traffic control devices and/or facilities which Council has the delegated authority to implement - see A guide to the delegation to councils for the regulation of traffic.
The committee considers the merits of a proposal to ensure it complies with technical guidelines and reports back to Council. Its formal members represent:
- Transport for NSW
- NSW Police Force
- NSW Member for Oxley
- Kempsey Shire Council.
Council provides all support services for the running of the committee under Transport for NSW guidelines. The committee currently meets quarterly, beginning in the first week of March each year.