Central Coast holidaymakers heading north to Hexham, out west to Wagga or down the south coast are being reminded to plan ahead, to avoid peak travel times and to use practical planning tools like livetraffic.com to get set for a safe Summer on the state’s roads.
Member for Gosford Liesl Tesch said the Friday before Christmas and from Boxing Day to the New Year’s Eve weekend were expected to be the busiest on NSW roads.
“Motorists heading out for the holidays will be hitting the road in their thousands,” she said.
“In fact, there will be thousands of extra cars on the roads, which will increase the risk of incidents.
“Drivers should avoid rushing, plan regular rest stops, service vehicles in advance, check the weather forecast and anticipate delays of up to 40 minutes.
“If you’re loading up the car, trailer, caravan, or boat for a trip, take the time to check everything is secure.
“Pay attention to whether all lights, tyres and blinkers are working and make sure anything being towed is within towing limits.
“Drivers are also encouraged to stay across the rules around how to drive safely when things are under tow.
“Slow down, pay attention to signs and drive to conditions.”
Tesch said some regional road projects currently underway would still have reduced speed limits in place.
“While a number of major regional roads projects will be shutting down during the holiday break, many will still have speed limits in place,” she said.
“We respectfully ask motorists to drive to the conditions, and pay attention to the directions and speed limits of signs.”
Information on emergencies and planned incidents will be fed directly through to motorists via major navigation apps such as Google and Apple Maps, following the fast-tracking of the onboarding of 123 councils, including 94 regional councils, to upload data in real time to Live Traffic NSW.
A useful tool to help motorists find the best times to travel to their destinations is the TfNSW ‘pinch point’ journey planning tool at myjourneynsw.info
Traffic updates can be accessed by downloading the Live Traffic NSW app, by visiting livetraffic.com, or calling 132 701.