Beach ‘traffic lights’ app to police COVID rules for beachgoers
A new traffic light system will be included in a new hi-tech app that will let beachgoers know where they can head for a dip while keeping a COVIDSafe distance from the nearest sunbather.
NSW
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A hi-tech traffic light app will be applied to Sydney’s beaches to let swimmers know if they are too packed for COVID-19 rules.
Surf lifesavers will revamp the Beachsafe app to help with crowd control on popular beaches to keep sun bathers socially distanced.
Surf Life Saving NSW will spend $25,000 on new crowd control measures to free up frontline surf lifesavers, courtesy of a cheque from Racing NSW to be donated at today’s $1 million Bondi Stakes at Royal Randwick.
A new traffic light system will be included in the Beachsafe app within weeks that will let beachgoers know where they can head for a dip while keeping a towel-length from the nearest sunbather.
Sparsely populated beaches will show up green, crowded beaches will be marked amber and packed beaches forced to close in line with COVID-19 restrictions will flash red.
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Surf Life Saving NSW is most worried about packed eastern suburbs beaches such as Bondi, Coogee and Maroubra, and hopes the traffic light system will prevent western and southwestern Sydney residents flocking to already overcrowded stretches of sand.
“We want to make sure people coming from Western Sydney don’t all descend on Bondi at the one time,” Surf Life Saving NSW communications manager Donna Wishart said.
“We want to give people suggestions for alternative beaches below capacity they can head to instead.”
Surf lifesavers, typically focused on coastal beaches, hope to broaden the app to harbour beaches as well, which have proved popular during COVID-19.
The Racing NSW donation will also be spent upskilling lifesavers to monitor crowd numbers from the new State Operations Centre at Belrose and feed instructions back to lifesavers at the beach.
“We want lifesavers focused on saving lives between the flags, not inundated enforcing social distancing,” Ms Wishart said.
“The enhancements to the Beachsafe app will allow people to see which beaches are nearing capacity or at capacity and closed, and direct them to a beach nearby which might not be as crowded.
“Our State Operations Centre has a good real-time picture of what’s happening on every beach because patrols check in every hour, so we will upskill more members to co-ordinate that information and handle input from councils and lifeguards.”
Drones on the lookout for sharks will be trained towards the beach to give lifesavers a better estimate of crowd numbers. Today’s $1 million Bondi Stakes — a 1600m horse race for three year olds — is part of the City Tattersalls Club Cup Day where between 3000 and 4000 punters are expected to turn out to Royal Randwick.
The Bondi Stakes will be the fifth of seven consecutive Saturday race days with at least $1 million of prizemoney up for grabs.
Next week’s Golden Eagle race at Rosehill Gardens is worth $7.5m, making it the third richest race in Australia.
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Originally published as Beach ‘traffic lights’ app to police COVID rules for beachgoers