The simple addition of lane-marking paint and a few signs to warn drivers of changing road conditions would save lives, but the response I received from Bathurst Regional Council to my previous email says historical crash data is used to assess the safety of roads.

So do we need more people to have fatal accidents before road safety is improved in rural areas?

How are drivers and cyclists supposed to drive to meet the conditions expected when there is nothing to alert them to those conditions?

Drivers who live locally are able to do so because they know the roads, but even so, P-platers and other drivers who are relatively new to the area continue to drive dangerously as though they expect the roads to be wider, better and safer. 

Motorists are and should be responsible for their driving, but if there are no lane markings and insufficient signage on a narrow, windy and steep section of road, the responsibility needs to be shared. 

Bathurst Regional Council says it is upgrading the road (Boyd Street-Limekilns Road) closer into town in response to a “cluster of accidents”.

This upgrade is coincidentally happening alongside a new subdivision, while a nearby similar stretch of road (Marsden Lane) the same distance from town lies eroded and crumbling with no adjacent subdivision to warrant its repair.

Something needs to be done to improve road safety. It is a national issue and needs to be dealt with before, not after any more lives are lost.