The Macquarie Pass
Road Safety Group
The Macquarie Pass Road Safety Group was formed in early 2005 after Garry Oliver and Scott Young collected over 500 signatures on a partition located at The Robertson Pie shop to raise the concerns of road conditions on Macquarie Pass.
The Group Consists of representatives from The Motorcycle Council of New South Wales, The RTA, National Parks and Wildlife, Wingacarriby & Shellharbour Local Councils, Trucking Union, 2 seats held by the Illawarra Riders Association and the New South Wales Police Force.
The Meetings held regularly are informative and listen to the suggestions put forward by the actual road users towards making the road safer for all of us to use.
Some of the opening meetings suggested the restriction of heavy vehicles using the road but this idea was dismissed as the road is classed as a Highway and major transportation route into the Illawarra. There is however a restriction of vehicles over 19 metres in length from using the road, this is why there is a pull over bay at the top and bottom of the pass where B-Doubles can pull over, unhook and travel the pass with a single trailer at a time.
The Macquarie Pass Road Safety Group has come up with many valid Road improvements that have made Macquarie Pass a safer but slightly more technical rider over the past 12 months.
Some of the issues addressed are: -
Centre lines.
The Centre lines were introduced to a 2km Section of Macquarie Pass from Clover Hill Rd in a Westerly direction as a trial in February 2006 and have been successful at indicating to vehicles where the centre line of the road is and when it is being crossed.
Placement of more unbroken lined sections will be conducted and are only restricted by the width of the road in places (The Road is not wide enough to meet Australian Standards for the placement of unbroken lines in all places).
The Resurfacing of large sections of the road
The Surface has been re done in large sections of Macquarie Pass covering Potholes and other road grazing caused by heavy road use over the years.
Other Sections of Macquarie Pass are also to be resealed with the Section from Big Tree Bend to the Bottom Hairpin the next section to be conducted after the road is underpinned as it is slipping down the hill (This is the large cracks that some may notice in the east-bound lane as your coming through the overtaking section).
Clearing of Foliage out of the Corners.
This has been conducted by the RTA and the National Parks and Wildlife at the suggestion of Motorcyclists, as it improves vision through the corners thus allowing more time to react to an on-coming dangerous situation (on-coming heavy vehicle).
The initial clearing of the foliage was conducted by the RTA and the continued removal (Maintenance) will be conducted by the National Parks and Wildlife or I’m going for a ride with my round-up in a squirty pack as this is one of the best changes to Macquarie Pass that has been made.
Improved Signage
Road signage has been addressed and changed where required to alert riders of the road hazard of Macquarie Pass, Sign placement, Additional Signage and a review of signage have all taken place.
Hazard Identification.
The Aim of the Macquarie Pass Road Safety Group is to Identify hazards before someone is killed or injured because of them. As I often ride the road I may be a little complacent with my surroundings or travel past them at such a rate that my tunnel vision does not permit me to make clear assessment of each individual hazard and store it in my brain that is focus on beating my mates to the top, so I’m Asking you guys for a hand.
If you have a question, suggestion, comment or issue you would like addressed, raised, tabled or answered Fire it through to me via Email and I’ll have it back to you as soon as I know the answer to it
Any urgent Road Safety Concerns should be lodged with the Report a Hazard web site.
