The Parliamentary Joint Standing Committee on Road Safety (Staysafe), Parliament of New South Wales, has commenced an inquiry into vulnerable road users.

The inquiry will focus on motorcycle and bicycle safety and look specifically at: trends in injuries and fatalities, including underlying causes of such incidents; current measures and future strategies to address the safety of these road users; consideration of the needs of motorcyclists and bicyclist during the planning and management of the road system; and vulnerable road user safety issues and strategies in other jurisdictions.

The inquiry is being conducted against a sustained increase in motorcycle fatalities and serious injuries on NSW roads. A recent Australian Government report dealing with motorcycle safety indicated that motorcycles, while representing 4.5% of registered vehicles, accounted for 15% of road deaths and an even higher proportion of roadrelated serious injuries.

In announcing the inquiry, the Chair of the Staysafe Committee, Mr Geoff Corrigan MP, member for Camden, said: “Motorcyclists and bicyclists are highly exposed to serious injury and casualty when using the road network. Continuing increases in the number of riders compounds the risk of injuries and adequate strategies must be in place to alleviate dangers posed to themselves and other road users”.

“Motorcyclists, in particular are very vulnerable and nationally are 23 times more likely to be killed per kilometre travelled than car occupants and 41 times more likely to be
seriously injured”, Mr Corrigan continued. “Renewed interest in motorcycle and bicycle riding for economic, environmental, health and convenience reasons makes this a very
timely topic for investigation as part of the Committee’s overall responsibilities for monitoring road safety in NSW”.

Submissions are requested by 6 August 2010, anticipating the calling of further evidence at public hearings to be conducted shortly thereafter. All written submissions should be
forwarded to: The Staysafe Committee, Parliament House, Macquarie Street, Sydney NSW 2000. Alternatively, submissions may be submitted electronically to:
staysafe@parliament.nsw.gov.au

Further information can be obtained by visiting the Committee website at www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/staysafe or by contacting the Chair, Mr Geoff Corrigan, on
(02) 4655 3333 or Mr Bjarne Nordin, Senior Committee Officer, on (02) 9230 2843.