THERE were 716 vehicle crashes in the Hilltops local government area from the start of 2014 to the end of 2018 and they cost more than $191 million, according to a report from the NRMA.
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The cost is calculated by taking into account everything from the emergency response to the crash to the loss of economic productivity to the hospital care required and rehabilitation, if needed.
The NRMA has provided crash statistics in a report based on its Rate Your Road survey, which began in 2019, asking members of the community to rate the condition and safety of their roads as a means of putting pressure on state and federal governments to increase their investment.
The report shows the Hilltops local government area had 14 fatal crashes, 283 injury crashes, 136 non-injury crashes and 716 total crashes in the five years from the beginning of 2014 to the end of 2018.
As a means of comparison, Cowra had nine fatal crashes in its local government area and 356 total crashes.
Weddin, which includes Grenfell, had one fatal crash and 122 total crashes.
Hilltops, according to the report, has a total road length (sealed and unsealed) of 2975.78km.
The NRMA report said the total cost of the fatal crashes and crashes causing injuries in the Hilltops area during the five-year period was $191,245,868.
In comparison, the cost was $111,209,666 in the Cowra area, $257,436,080 in the Goulburn area, $77,050,831 in the Junee area and $57,040,496 in the Murrumbidgee area.
Those who took part in the survey gave the Lachlan Valley Way an overall condition score of 59.1 out of 100, a congestion score of 505.6 and a safety score of 45.2.
The Great Western Highway received scores of 57.4, 50.8 and 53.8 for condition, congestion and safety.
Providing comment, one local resident said on the Olympic Highway at Boorowa "upgrades are done and then the older parts suffer and its generally better as road base than finished product".
"Mostly just gets resealed in bits and pieces and it's as bad as before within six months."
The NRMA said that, since it had launched its Rate Your Road campaign, the organisation had successfully advocated for almost $2 billion in new road funding from the NSW and Australian governments, including funding during COVID-19 to keep projects moving and support employment.
The NRMA said the NSW Government had also committed to transfer up to 15,000 kilometres of council-managed regional roads to the NSW Government to lessen the financial burden on those councils.
