Cumberland Council teams up with police urging drivers to slow down after fatalities, injuries

These two victims are part of an alarming number of fatalities that have prompted a western Sydney council to get drivers to slow down before more tragedies strike.

Cumberland Traffic and Highway Patrol Command Chief Inspector Sean Gabin and Cumberland Mayor Lisa Lake.

In September 2020, young Merrylands woman Claire Georgey’s death added to a shameful road toll in the Cumberland area.

A high performance car driven by Mohammad Saleh – who had been racing his mate Jim Malamas – collided with the 22-year-old’s wagon at Merrylands and she died in hospital a week later on September 14.

That month, in the same suburb, 45-year-old Peter Warner was killed when Ben Ives ran a red light at Merrylands Rd.

Between 2018 and 2022, Mr Warner and Miss Georgey were two of 26 people killed on Cumberland roads. Another 2545 were injured locally.

The alarming statistics have prompted Cumberland Council to start a road safety campaign urging drivers to slow down.

At the council meeting last week, Cumberland Mayor Lisa Lake’s motion to roll out the campaign in the diverse area’s top five languages – Arabic, Mandarin, Nepali, Cantonese and Tamil – was unanimously supported.

She said Transport for NSW data revealed in the Cumberland LGA the number of speed-related crashes had failed to reduce over the past three years.

Claire Georgey is one of the victims of Cumberland’s high road toll. Picture: Facebook

Peter Warner died in the same month as Miss Georgey.

Over the four years to 2022, most crashes – 44 per cent – occurred on roads with 50km speed limits.

Twenty seven per cent were on 60km roads and 14 per cent were on 70km roads.

Last year, drivers from the Cumberland area were involved in 1145 crashes across Sydney and 406 crashes were in Cumberland.

“Unfortunately the Cumberland local government area has a growing problem with speed-related accidents,’’ Cr Lake said.

“Unfortunately there were six reported fatalities (in Cumberland) attributed to speeding and that’s six too many.’’

In NSW, speed is a factor in 40 per cent of road fatalities and 24 per cent of injuries every year.

Cr Lake said the council had “an unwavering commitment to safety” for the community.

“The safety of our residents and those that travel to and from Cumberland is of critical importance,’’ she said.

“Most importantly, the message is clear, we need people to slow down on our roads.’’

The council will work with Cumberland and Auburn police commands, and youth agencies, to promote the campaign and follow the results in February.

Councillor Saha Suman said one of the challenges the traffic committee faced was that many residents who were consulted about speed humps did not want them on their streets because they believed it would attract noise and congestion.

He also said many roads did not attract enough traffic to warrant traffic calming devices.

In June, Greystanes man and real estate agent Malamas was convicted and sentenced to an 18-month community correction after his street racing ultimately led to Miss Georgey’s death.

Saleh, whose car collided into Miss Georgey’s vehicle, will be sentenced on November 29. He pleaded guilty to dangerous driving occasioning death-drive speed dangerous and dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm – drive speed dangerous.

In February, Ives was handed a two-year sentence. He will be eligible for parole on December 6.