About Us

The Western Australian Local Government Association (WALGA) is the peak industry body for Local Governments in WA, working for Local Governments in Western Australia. 

• WALGA represents Local Governments on the Road Safety Council.
• WALGA assists Local Government by developing policy positions and advocating on a range of road and transport related issues.
• WALGA’s RoadWise receives funding from the Road Trauma Trust Account (RTTA), operated by the Road Safety Commission and approved by the Minister, and through the State Road Funds to Local Government Agreement.
• As a part of WALGA, RoadWise is uniquely placed to:
  
  • engage Local Governments in strategic and sustainable initiatives to ingrain or mainstream the safe system approach,
  • inform, facilitate and mobilise community action for road safety, and
  • foster and support collaborative partnerships to improve road safety in metropolitan, rural and remote communities across the state.
• Through the support of a team of road safety advisors, policy and project officers, WALGA's RoadWise has a well-established network of more than 6,000 individuals and 63 local road safety committees, spread across the 11 regions of the state. This includes direct regular contact and positive working relationships with Local Governments, government agencies and non-government organisations as well as local business and community groups.

The Role of Local Government in Road Safety

• As system designers within the safe system framework, Local Governments have a strategic and operational road safety role as road managers, planning authorities and fleet managers, in addition to their community development and leadership roles.
• Local Governments manage 87.2 per cent of the road network[1], where 57.1 per cent of all serious injury crashes occur[2].
• Each year Local Governments in WA invest more than $900 million ($942.2 in 2020-21) on roads, with 52.3 per cent of total road expenditure coming from Local Governments own resources.
• Almost every journey begins and ends on local roads, with just under half (40 per cent) of all travel occurring on local roads.

Our Road Safety Programs

• We work with the RoadWise road safety network, which includes Local Governments, State and Federal Government agencies, community groups, and individuals, to develop and deliver creative, evidence-informed road safety initiatives and resources.
• We coordinate and deliver the Child Car Restraint (CCR) Program, which trains and supports a statewide network of Type 1 Child Car Restraint Fitters and provides a telephone information service and website to provide the public with access to information about fitting service locations, training and advice on child car restraints.
• We develop road safety resources and campaign material for use by the network, including the well recognised Blessing of the Roads and Road Ribbon for Road Safety® statewide community road safety campaigns.
• We coordinate the Driver Reviver and Coffee Stop programs in Western Australia.
• We develop road safety resources specifically for Local Government, including the Local Government Safe System Toolkit, the Road Safety Governing Principles for Local Government, the Local Government Fleet and Workplace Safety Kit and the Road Safety Around Schools Guidelines.
• We coordinate the Local Government Road Safety Awards and a RoadWise awards and recognition program.

More information on these programs can be found throughout this website.

[1] WALGA, Report on Local Government Road Assets & Expenditure 2020-2021, Road Assets and Expenditure Report | WALGA.

[2] Road Safety Commission, 2015-2019 road crash data, pers comm., 15 December 2021.