The Minns Labor government is calling on all road users to “Join the Journey” this August as Rural Road Safety Month gets underway.

Rural Road Safety Month is an initiative of the Australian Road Safety Foundation, supported by Transport for NSW, now in its ninth year.

Sadly, over the first six months of the year there have been 183 deaths on NSW roads, including 123 fatalities in regional areas, highlighting the ongoing challenge of reducing road trauma in rural and regional communities.

Country roads continue to account for more than two-thirds of the state’s road trauma. Of the 123 fatalities recorded in regional NSW this year, 68 were motor vehicle drivers, while motorcyclists accounted for 23 deaths on country roads.

Men remain overrepresented, accounting for 92 of the 123 fatalities in regional NSW. Older road users have also been significantly affected, with 24 people aged 70 and over losing their lives on country roads this year.

The Minns Labor government is investing almost half a billion dollars into the Towards Zero Safer Roads Program over five years to upgrade high risk locations across the state, as well as several other initiatives to reduce the number of lives lost and serious injuries on regional roads including:

• expanding the mobile speed camera network to an additional 2700 locations across NSW since 2023

• installing mobile phone and seatbelt detection cameras to detect illegal mobile phone and incorrect seatbelt use

• early intervention through education programs like the NSW Road Safety Education Program.

The NSW government is also trialling artificial intelligence animal detection cameras and “smart” signage on the Monaro Highway, aimed at reducing wildlife-vehicle strikes.