Lisa Dennis
Calm It Castlemaine is calling on Mount Alexander Shire councillors to adopt the ‘Castlemaine CBD Road Safety Action Plan ‘, which is expected to come before the council shortly.
The community group is also urging councillors to commit the funding and council resources needed to deliver it.
Calm It Castlemaine was formed by concerned community members two years ago to highlight local road safety issues and advocate for positive change. The move came after a spate of accidents and near misses involving local pedestrians and cyclists.
Despite their positive campaigning and advocacy over the last 24 months, the issues continue, with many incidents going unreported.
Therefore, the group commends council officers on completing the plan, the product of a two-year process that involved extensive community engagement.
Calm It Castlemaine spokesperson James Whitten said the plan sets out practical short and medium-term measures that are proven to improve road safety in built-up urban areas:
– Lowering signed road speeds in the town centre to 40 km/h from 50 km/h and 60 km/h.
– Adding pedestrian priority treatments at busy intersections and mid-block crossings.
– Installing line and symbol markings to calm traffic and alert drivers to people cycling.
The Mail met with Calm It Castlemaine representatives on Forest Street on Wednesday, where the council has installed an AI-enabled traffic data counter which is gathering data to develop AI-generated solutions for traffic management and a potential crossing point on the busy thoroughfare between Hargraves and Barker Street.
“We commend council on acquiring and installing this important technology which is monitoring vehicle, bicycle and pedestrian movements, issues and incidents and looking at possible solutions,” Whitten said.
Local bike shop owner Matt Bringezu of Bike Ranger Castlemaine said Castlemaine and surrounds face a combination of challenges around active transport and mobility choices.
“We have a lack of safe walking and cycling infrastructure for travel (not just recreation); limited public transport; and an over-aged community.
“We have 2.5 times as many 85+ year olds, and a median age 14 years above the national average. But despite having an ‘over-aged’ community, Castlemaine has 3.57 times the national average of commuter cyclists,” he said.
“My shop alone has sold around 20 cargo bikes over the last two years. These bikes are used predominantly by parents to get their young children to kinder, school, sports activities and daily errands.
“Castlemaine was assessed by Infrastructure Victoria in its 2025 ‘Building Safer Cycling Networks’ report for review ‘due to its higher incidence of bike crashes compared to other regional cities like Mildura and Shepparton’.
“However, disappointingly, Castlemaine ultimately misses out on state priority funding because of a low ‘cost–benefit ratio’,” Matt said.
“In simple terms, even though our town has significantly more cycling activity and more crashes per head than other regional centres, it is deemed less cost–effective to invest in safer cycling infrastructure!
“This is why Calm It keeps advocating for better data collection on active transport for more funding for safer streets for everyone,” he said.
Community members can view the proposed new plan at https://www.mountalexander.vic.gov.au/Community-and-Wellbeing/Roads-footpaths-drains-and-other-infrastructure/Completed-projects/Castlemaine-CBD-Road-and-Safety-Strategy