Tamworth's most dangerous roads revealed as Rural Road Safety Month kicks off

Transport for NSW figures compiled by the Centre for Road Safety show that every single fatal crash in 2019 in the Tamworth local government area occurred on a rural road.

Five deadly crashes reportedly occurred that year.

Two were on the Moonbi Hill section of the New England Highway.

Six other cars crashed on the same section of the road, leading to two serious injuries and six minor injuries.

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There were ten other accidents on the lower section of the New England Highway and four crashes on the highway section heading towards Newcastle.

The Australian Road Safety Foundation, which officially launched Rural Road Safety Month this week, released its annual report at the same time.

The annual review showed that two of every three fatal accidents in NSW occur in regional and rural areas, with just one in metropolitan areas, despite vastly higher population in the state's cities.

About 93 per cent of residents of NSW use high-risk rural roads at least once a year, the research shows, with 47 per cent using the riskiest roads at least once a week.

ARSF Founder and CEO Russell White said the research helped to explain the high disparity between the number of road deaths occurring on regional New South Wales roads compared to urban areas.

"We now have strong evidence that when it comes to preventing road trauma in regional areas, drivers from across greater Sydney and built up areas carry an equal responsibility to local residents," he said.

About 40 per cent of drivers report behaving more riskily on remote roads out of a belief they won't be caught by the police, he said.

Member for Tamworth Kevin Anderson said 184 people have already died on NSW roads in 2021, 127 of them on country roads.

He said the government was putting enormous resources behind a long list of local road upgrades, largely designed to make the rural roads less dangerous to drivers.

"If we look at the work being done on the $10 million Werris Creek Road upgrade, in particular, the key priority is road safety. This road is in unacceptably unsafe condition, so it's great news that the road will be widened and include double-centre lines, rumble strips and other safety devises to help prevent run-off-road and head-on crashes," he said.

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Other Tamworth roads on the list of most dangerous include Peel Street, with eight major accidents, causing seven moderate and two serious injuries, and Bridge Street, with 10 moderate and one minor injuries from 10 accidents.

Aside from the New England Highway, all but one of region's fatal accidents occurred on quiet rural roads.

The only exception was a fatal accident at the corner of Calala Lane and Marsden Park Road, killing one person.

One was on Manilla Road, at the intersection of Appleby Lane, killing one person, and injuring two more.

And a person died in an accident on Nundle's Barry Road, near the Nundle State Forest.

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