Lachlan Shire Council

What's On    Community Directory    Contact    Subscribe

Your council

Community services

Library services

Tourism

Your environment

Planning & development

Roads & traffic

• Town Maps
• Road Conditions
• Roads and Traffic Safety
• Road & Street Programs

About the shire

At the awards ceremony are Parkes, Forbes and Lachlan Shire Councils Road Safety and Injury Prevention Officer, Melanie Suitor and Lithgow City Council Road Safety Officer, Matthew Irvine.

SLOW DOWN IN TOWN! Wins Award

Parkes, Forbes and Lachlan Shire Council’s road safety program SLOW DOWN IN TOWN! was short listed at the 2004 Institute of Public Works and Engineering Australia (IPWEA) Excellence in Road Safety Awards in Sydney.

SLOW DOWN IN TOWN!  was conducted across the three Shires at the end of 2002 and early 2003.  It was a four phased program that targeted urban speeding and consisted of traffic studies, radio and newspaper advertising, the use of courtesy speed monitors, a dress up your wheelie bin competition, police enforcement, regular media articles and a float in the Parkes Elvis Parade.

The awards, which are sponsored by the Motor Accidents Authority, were presented at the Annual Conference of the IPWEA in Sydney on 24 May 2004.  They are presented to Councils to recognise outstanding achievements in the area of road safety and are linked to the Local Government Road Safety Program, which is a key partnership between the RTA, Local Government Association of NSW and Shires Association of NSW, IPWEA and MAA, to raise the profile of road safety in Local Government and the local community.

SLOW DOWN IN TOWN! was one of five projects that were short listed, three of which were country Councils.  Others included:  

§         None for the Road - Hurstville and Rockdale City Councils and Kogarah Municipal Council

§         Lights On. Wipers On. Slow Down in the Wet. - Lithgow City Council

§         Catch the Brock Bus - Bathurst City Council and

§         Safe Motorcycling in the Snowy Mountains Region - Gundagai, Tumbarumba and Tumut Shire Councils

The major awards went to Wollongong City Council for a drink walking project and Tamworth City Council for a youth driver education course.

Council’s Road Safety and Injury Prevention Officer, Melanie Suitor, who was present at the awards dinner, said she was extremely pleased to make the short list. 

“SLOW DOWN IN TOWN! was designed to be highly visible and educate local drivers about the dangers and consequences of speeding, involve the local community and reduce speeds on the targeted streets.  All of these objectives were met.  We saw speeds decrease on the targeted streets up to 5km/h after the project wrapped up, had more than 200 entries in the dress up your wheelie bin competition which shows community involvement and ran an intensive public education program. 

“It was a shock when the short list was announced as I didn’t expect to be on it.  However, it was good to be recognised by your road safety peers in local government as running a project that is considered to be of a high standard. 

“I would like to take the opportunity to thank the IPWEA and awards sponsors, but more importantly everyone who helped out and got involved in the SLOW DOWN IN TOWN! campaign.  Whether it was slowing down when you saw the courtesy speed monitor, entering the dress up your wheelie bin competition or helping with the logistics of the program.  This award is for you!” Ms Suitor said.

Contact details
Melanie Suitor
02 6861 2364 (ph)
02 6863 5931 (fax)
melanie.suitor@parkes.nsw.gov.au

I want to...