A funding boost will further promote reducing the road toll on NSW roads
Transport for New South Wales (TfNSW) is aiming to halve deaths and reduce serious injuries on NSW roads by 30 per cent before 2030 as part of an action plan on road safety.
The NSW government is committing an additional $250 million on road safety to ensure motorists and transport operators can use the state’s roads safely.
TfNSW says the newly released 2026 Road Safety Action Plan will help reduce the road toll via a series of new initiatives.
“We want to create the safest roads system we can so that everyone using the road returns home safely to their families,” metropolitan roads minister Natalie Ward says/
“We know the measures we’ve delivered through our previous plan have worked to save lives, as 270 people were killed on NSW last year which makes it our lowest road toll since 1923.”
But the NSW government is adamant the number is still too high, causing it to make changes to the previous 2021 Road Safety Plan.
In the 2021 plan, NSW achieved its target of a 30 per cent reduction in road deaths in the past decade.
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“That was a heartening result but it’s vital we look to the future and continue the trend with the ultimate aim to be no deaths on our roads,” Ward says.
“Important initiatives in our new plan include a new online learner licence education and testing platform to improve interactive learning and access to a licence.”
With the aim to help make transport workers’ passage safer through NSW, the new action plan also includes:
- Trialling a vehicle safety program to increase the use of safe vehicles among younger and disadvantaged drivers
- Trialling technology on heavy vehicles to improve the detection of pedestrians and cyclists
- Partnering with the Road Trauma Support Group NSW
- Enhancing the local government road safety program
- Using existing mobile phone detection cameras to detect drivers not wearing a seatbelt
The $250 million funding boost brings the NSW government’s commitment to improving road safety to almost $2.4 billion over the next five years, with initiatives being delivered through the Community Road Safety Fund.