We can’t wait 320 years for all families in NSW to have access to safe streets, low speed limits and protected cycleways (Credit: City of Sydney)
Make Active Travel a Priority for the September Budget
Dear Member of Parliament,
We are writing to advocate for more funding for walking and cycling in the September Budget. Because research shows that the current car-dominated system is failing us:
- Vehicle emissions cause 11,105 premature deaths, 12,210 cardiovascular hospitalisations, 6,840 respiratory hospitalisations, and 66,000 childhood asthma cases every year. (Sydney Morning Herald)
- 1,194 people died on Australian roads in 2022
- We need safe, people-friendly, climate-friendly streets for all. And we need them now.
Improving our streets is particularly important for the health and safety of future generations. In the 1980s, 75% of kids walked or rode to school. But after four decades of car-centric urban planning, that proportion has plummeted to 14.5%.
This has had disgraceful public health consequences:
- Australian teens rank 140 out of 146 of the least physically active nations on the planet.
- 25% of Australian children and 67% of adults are overweight or obese due to physical inactivity.
- Traffic violence is the leading cause of death among children and teens.
- Traffic pollution causes 11,000 deaths and 66,000 childhood asthma cases every year .
Transport for NSW has introduced a suite of great new policies and strategies: the first NSW Active Transport Strategy, Providing for Walking and Cycling and Road User Space Allocation policies, and a visionary Future Transport Strategy. But at the current funding allocation, it will take more than 320 years to deliver healthy community outcomes.
