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report a hazard

Reporting hazards and other issues on roads and shared paths is one of the easiest ways to help keep your local area bike-friendly.

Below is a guide to reporting a hazard. The Department of Transport have a reporting function for incidents and hazards. Follow this link to see the process for reporting and incident or hazard. (Reporting an incident or hazard (transport.wa.gov.au)

Follow this link for the online hazard report form Online hazard report form (transport.wa.gov.au)

Guide to Reporting Hazards on Roads and Shared Paths in WA

Reporting hazards and other issues on roads and shared paths can be one of the easiest ways that you can help keep your local area bike-friendly.

But with over 100 local governments and several state government agencies responsible for cycling infrastructure in WA, knowing who is the appropriate agency to report to can be tricky, so we have prepared a guide on how you can determine who best to contact and have the best chance of your hazard rectified. Find the details in your area.

Government agencies genuinely want to ensure that their infrastructure is safe and well maintained. Community feedback is vital to help government agencies keep cycling facilities safe and comfortable

Some examples of hazards that should be reported are:

  • Bumps or cracks in a path surface due to the encroachment of tree roots.
  • Areas of path prone to flooding/pooling.
  • Broken glass and overhanging tree branches.
  • Caltrop or doublegee plants, which can puncture bike tyres.
  • Excessive sand or debris that requires sweeping.
  • Cars parked or roadwork signage placed on or across paths.
  • To report motorbikes, trail bikes and other motor vehicles (not parked) on shared paths click here

Respectful Responses

Being polite and respectful will help ensure that the bike riding community is viewed as being helpful and constructive. Please keep to the facts, without emotion to help with the resolution of the issue.

Be Reasonable

If you are reporting a small maintenance issue (e.g. tree pruning,
small pothole, sweeping) this may get resolved straight away, larger requests may require some patience. Larger requests that may be expensive to resolve and may take time to budget and plan. Allow a reasonable amount of time for a response (10 business days) before following up and choose only one hazard at a time (the most important one).

Be Helpful

When submitting a report, provide as much information as you can so that the agency you are reporting to knows exactly what you are reporting and where it is. This will save you needing to answer follow up questions. For this reason, it is best to email your report so you can attach photos and a marked (google) map to give staff as much information they need to action your report.

Preparing a hazard report

Our recommendation is to email your report as this will allow you to attach the relevant information to make an efficient report and reduce the need for the local government to ask follow up questions.

  • One hazard/issue at a time (start with the most important)
  • Photos (some councils have attachment limits, so keep photos to under 10mb)
  • Exact location (e.g. use your phone to get an exact GPS location or attach a marked aerial image from Google Maps)
  • Time of day (if your reported hazard is time-dependent).
  • Your contact details (so that the agency can give you a call and ask you for further details about the hazard and its exact location)
  • Keep a copy of your report so that if you need to send the report to a different agency you can easily copy and paste and resend.

Next Steps

Once you have emailed your report to the relevant local government, take note of the report number if one is provided (usually an auto-reply) and follow up if the hazard has not been resolved in a reasonable time (be fair).

What if the local government hasn’t responded to my report or you are unsatisfied with the outcome?

If you have contacted the local government, and have followed up after 10 business days and you still haven’t received a response or you are unsatisfied with the response, please forward your correspondence/email chain to WestCycle to review and determine next steps [email protected]

What if your local government asks you to forward your report to Main Roads WA or the Public Transport Authority?

To report a hazard to Main Roads WA – Email [email protected] To report a hazard to the Public Transport Authority – Email [email protected]

To report motorbikes, trail bikes and other motor vehicles on shared paths

Contact Police if the incident is occurring now and/or is causing danger – report the incident to the Police Assistance Centre on 131 444. If you are a reporting an incident that is no longer causing danger, please report to the relevant local government in the first instance. They may encourage you to also report to Crime Stoppers so that Police are aware of the issue and can investigate. If this is a frequent occurrence, you may also like to inform the relevant local government area and WestCycle ([email protected])

Thank you

By making these reports you tell your local government that cycling is important in your community and you will also feel the satisfaction that you have played your part in improving cycling in your local area and the entire cycling community will benefit from your contribution.

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Acknowledgement of Country
WestCycle acknowledges the Traditional Custodians throughout Western Australia and their continuing connection to the land, waters and community. 
We pay our respects to all members of the First Nations communities and their cultures, and to Elders both past, present and emerging.
Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries

Tim Roach

Elected Director | Off Road

Tim has been in senior leadership and strategic development roles for more than twenty years. He is currently Director of Executive Education in the School of Business and Law at Edith Cowan University and is a past Assistant Commissioner and General Manager in the public service. He is an Accountant (FCPA) and sits on the Divisional Council of CPA Australia.

Tim has been involved in racing mountain bikes, BMX and triathlon for many years, both as a father of two children who race and as a past and current bike racer. Tim is the current over-50 State Champion in downhill mountain biking. He is also a very regular and enthusiastic transport cyclist; frequently seen in a suit and tie riding to meetings in the city on a mountain bike.

Denise Sullivan

Chair | Governance & Risk Committee

Denise Sullivan has a career spanning over twenty years in senior management and executive roles in the state public and not-for-profit health sectors.

In her usual role of Director Chronic Disease Prevention with the Western Australian Department of Health, she leads the development of state chronic disease and injury prevention policy and planning frameworks and contributes to the shaping of the national preventive health policy agenda.

Her professional interests cover many aspects of chronic disease and injury prevention encompassing health communications, health promotion and research, public policy on health and workforce planning and development.

She has a particular interest in furthering collaborations with other sectors with a mutual interest in promoting a more active and healthier WA community, and creating and sustaining environments that support this. Denise is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Leadership WA Signature Program, and an Associate Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management and the Australian College of Health Service Managers.

Denise is a recreational cyclist and recent convert to mountain biking (although trainer wheels still on!).