CWA Riverina pushes for mandatory wearing of reflective vests on public roads

Oura branch vice-president Ann Adams introduced the motion which features a two-pronged approach to mandating the wearing of bright vests by walkers, runners, motorcyclists and cyclists while on public roads.

"I'm really concerned about the injuries, accidents and deaths we see on our roads," Ms Adams said.

"How many times are you out on the road, it happened to me just the other day, I saw a group of children on their bikes in black pants and black jackets.

"It costs just $15 for a reflective vest, we need to encourage the wearing of them."

During Wednesday's gathering of Riverina-based associations, Ms Adams said there had been "strong debate" over the inclusion of other road users in the mandatory vest order.

"Some wanted to add horse riders into the motion," Ms Adams said.

"They wanted to add an amendment but that was lost. We decided horses weren't in the same category as bikes and runners who are more in town, in the 60km/h areas."

The second part of the motion called for an advertising campaign to promote the benefits of wearing vests to save lives.

This, Ms Adams said, went through "unanimously".

Now that the Riverina groups have passed the motion, it will go on to be debated among the state executive in November, before it finally hits the state conference in May next year.

Once it has cleared each level, the CWA will begin writing to local, state and federal politicians to make the idea a reality.