Injured at work or on the road in the Hornsby Shire?

Road crash data for the Hornsby Shire, 2020 to 2024

The roads that trucks, tradies and commuters share carry a big part of the shire's crashes where someone was hurt or killed, according to Transport for NSW's 2020 to 2024 crash data. Together, the Pacific Highway and the M1 account for about a third of them. Pennant Hills Road, recorded in the data as the Cumberland Highway, comes next, with NorthConnex running in a tunnel beneath it. Heavy vehicles feature in about one in twenty crashes, and about one in six happened in high-speed zones, mostly on the motorway. Cowan, on the M1 south of the Hawkesbury River, records more crashes than any other locality, with Hornsby, Pennant Hills and Cherrybrook behind it.

These are Transport for NSW’s records of crashes in which someone was killed or injured, counted by where the crash happened. They count crashes, not risk: a busy arterial records more crashes than a quiet street because it carries more traffic.

Casualties are people killed plus people recorded as seriously, moderately or minor/other injured; one crash can injure more than one person. Injury severities are as recorded in this police-reported dataset. Transport for NSW’s hospital-linked serious injury statistics are a different, higher series.

Where people were hurt most often, 2020 to 2024

Of the 846 crashes where someone was hurt from 2020 to 2024, motorcycles were involved in about 17%, pedestrians in about 7%, bicycles in about 5% and heavy vehicles in about 5%. Of those crashes, about 18% happened in speed zones of 90 km/h or more. By light and road conditions, about 18% happened in darkness, about 8% at dawn or dusk and about 20% on wet roads.

Source: Transport for NSW, NSW Road Crash Data 2020 to 2024 (open data). Casualty crashes by LGA of crash. NSW crash data on Transport for NSW Open Data.

Injured at work in the Hornsby Shire

Work in the Hornsby Shire leans on healthcare, retail, education, construction and agriculture. Each brings its own pattern of injuries, and each guide below covers how a claim in that industry usually runs.

Work injuries we see from these industries

• Psychological injury and burnout →Trauma exposure, aggression, shift burnout and workplace bullying.
• Back strains →Shelf restocking, pallet lifting and stockroom work.
• Neck injury from scanning and reaching →Repetitive reach, overhead stock and register posture.
• Falls from height →Scaffolding, ladders, edge and roof work.
• Shoulder injury from shearing and stock handling →Shearing posture, yard work and livestock restraint.
• Hand and wrist injuries →Power tools, impact, crush injuries and repetitive strain.

The first steps on a workers compensation claim

1. Tell your employer as soon as you can, in writing if possible, and note who saw it. The claim should be made within six months of the injury, though a later claim can still be accepted in some circumstances.
2. See a doctor and get the first Certificate of Capacity. It records the injury, the treatment plan and the work you can safely do, and our WorkCover doctors write it in the format insurers expect (see the Certificate of Capacity guide).
3. Your employer notifies its insurer within 48 hours of becoming aware of the injury. If it does not, you can claim with the insurer directly, and our team can prepare the form with you.
4. The insurer responds. It generally has to start provisional weekly payments within seven days of being notified, unless it has a reasonable excuse. For the first 13 weeks they are generally 95% of your pre-injury average weekly earnings, up to a weekly maximum; try the WorkCover payment calculator.

Sources: Workplace Injury Management and Workers Compensation Act 1998 (NSW) ss 44, 261 and 267; Workers Compensation Act 1987 (NSW) s 36 (checked September 2026).

Treatment and getting back to work

On an accepted claim the insurer pays for treatment that is reasonably necessary because of the injury, and our physios, psychologists and rehabilitation providers work from the same file as your doctor. Your employer must provide suitable work so far as reasonably practicable, and cannot dismiss you because you are unfit for work as a result of the injury within six months of first becoming unfit.

Sources: Workers Compensation Act 1987 (NSW) s 60; Workplace Injury Management and Workers Compensation Act 1998 (NSW) ss 49 and 248 (checked September 2026).

The rest of the scheme is in our workers compensation NSW guide. Only just hurt? Start with what to do when you are injured at work.

Road crashes in the Hornsby Shire: first steps

After a crash on the M1, the Pacific Highway or a quiet street in North Epping, exchange names, phone numbers and registrations with the other driver. Police who didn't attend still need to hear about it, so report the collision and file the event number with your other papers. See a doctor early so your injuries are assessed and recorded. The CTP insurer of the at-fault vehicle handles the car accident side. If you were driving for work at the time, tell your employer too, because workers compensation usually comes first.

Report it, and get the police event number

If police did not attend, report the crash to police as soon as you can. Where anyone is injured, the Road Rules require a driver involved to report it as soon as possible and, except in exceptional circumstances, within 24 hours. If police attended, that is the report. The CTP insurer needs the crash to have been reported to police within 28 days so it can verify your claim, and it will ask for the police event number. You can report through the Police Assistance Line on 131 444 or at a police station.

Sources: NSW Road Rules 2014 r 287; SIRA, guide for people injured in a motor vehicle accident (checked September 2026).

Work out which CTP insurer handles the claim

The claim goes to the CTP insurer of the at-fault vehicle where it has been identified, or your own vehicle’s insurer if you were the at-fault driver. NSW has six licensed CTP insurers: AAMI, Allianz, GIO, NRMA, QBE and Youi. If the vehicle was never identified, or was uninsured, the Nominal Defendant handles the claim.

Sources: SIRA, list of licensed CTP insurers; SIRA, Nominal Defendant; Service NSW, apply for personal injury benefits (checked September 2026).

See a doctor, and get the Certificate of Fitness

You can be seen before any claim is made. In the first 28 days the insurer may pay for one GP consultation and up to two allied health sessions, once it knows about the crash and a claim or reference number exists. The first Certificate of Fitness must come from your treating medical practitioner; later ones can come from your physio or psychologist where the injury is within their area of practice, and each generally covers no more than 28 days.

Sources: SIRA, Motor Accident Guidelines 4.68, 4.69, 4.78 and 4.79; Motor Accident Injuries Act 2017 (NSW) s 3.15(3)(b) (checked September 2026).

The CTP time limits

Sources: SIRA, guide for people injured in a motor vehicle accident; Motor Accident Injuries Act 2017 (NSW) s 6.13 (checked September 2026).

Treatment and weekly payments are payable whoever was at fault for the first 52 weeks. After that, it depends on whether the injury is a threshold injury and whether you were mostly at fault. Our car accident injury service explains how we run a CTP file.

Source: Motor Accident Injuries Act 2017 (NSW) ss 3.11 and 3.28 (checked September 2026).

Reading for crashes like the ones in this area

• The first 72 hours after a crash →From the roadside to the first appointment, in order.
• The Certificate of Fitness →The form behind CTP weekly payments, and who signs it.
• CTP treatment approvals →What the insurer pays for, and how requests are decided.
• Motorcycle accident injury →The rider injury mix, and how treatment is funded.
• Pedestrian and cyclist injury →Hit while walking or riding, even by an unidentified vehicle.

When work and the road overlap

Driving is part of the job for a lot of people in the shire: tradies moving between sites, delivery drivers on the Pacific Highway, carers visiting clients in Cherrybrook and Beecroft, and truck drivers heading north on the M1. When one of them is hurt in a crash while working, it's usually a workers compensation claim first, though a CTP claim may still be in play. On the WorkCover side, that first visit brings an examination and a Certificate of Capacity from our doctor. Under CTP, the certificate is a Certificate of Fitness, and you get a treatment plan either way. The work here shapes what our clinics see: lifting and back injuries in aged care and building work, strains from outdoor work around Galston and Arcadia, and whiplash and shoulder injuries from commuter crashes. Where a claim turns into a legal dispute, our partner firms can help.

Driving for work: workers compensation usually comes first

CTP statutory benefits are not payable where workers compensation is payable for the same injury. The CTP side does not simply close, though: the CTP insurer can only refuse on that ground once you have made a successful workers compensation claim, or have not complied with its request to make one. Tell each insurer about the other claim.

Source: Motor Accident Injuries Act 2017 (NSW) s 3.35 (checked September 2026).

The commute is a different question

An ordinary drive between home and work is a workers compensation matter only where there is a real and substantial connection between the employment and the accident, such as an errand you were sent on. A plain commute tends to be a CTP matter on its own.

Source: SIRA, work break and journey claims (checked September 2026).

For app-based drivers and riders, whether you count as a worker is decided on the facts of the arrangement rather than the label in the app’s terms. More on car accidents at work in NSW and rideshare and delivery driver accidents.

Places in the Hornsby Shire

The council area takes in the places below, and we help people from all of them. Where a suburb has its own page on this site, its name opens our workers compensation guide for that suburb, with the car accident page beside it.

• Hornsby · car accident care in Hornsby
• Cherrybrook · car accident care in Cherrybrook
• Beecroft · car accident care in Beecroft
• Thornleigh · car accident care in Thornleigh
• Mount Colah · car accident care in Mount Colah
• Pennant Hills · car accident care in Pennant Hills
• Waitara · car accident care in Waitara
• Hornsby Heights · car accident care in Hornsby Heights
• Berowra Heights · car accident care in Berowra Heights
• Normanhurst · car accident care in Normanhurst
• Asquith · car accident care in Asquith
• Westleigh · car accident care in Westleigh
• Berowra · car accident care in Berowra
• North Epping · car accident care in North Epping
• Galston · car accident care in Galston
• Cheltenham · car accident care in Cheltenham
• Mount Kuring-gai · car accident care in Mount Kuring-gai
• Arcadia · car accident care in Arcadia
• Brooklyn · car accident care in Brooklyn
• Cowan · car accident care in Cowan

Main roads

The main roads through the council area include the Pacific Motorway (M1), the Pacific Highway, Pennant Hills Road, NorthConnex (M11), the M2 Hills Motorway, New Line Road, Galston Road and Old Northern Road.

Getting around

• Hornsby station is a junction of the North Shore and Northern lines, and the Central Coast & Newcastle Line continues north through Berowra, Cowan and Hawkesbury River station at Brooklyn
• NorthConnex (M11) runs in a tunnel beneath Pennant Hills Road through Normanhurst, Thornleigh and Pennant Hills, linking the M1 at Wahroonga with the M2 at West Pennant Hills
• Cherrybrook metro station on Castle Hill Road is on the Metro North West & Bankstown Line

Neighbouring council areas: The Hills, Central Coast, Ku-ring-gai, Ryde, Parramatta and Northern Beaches.

Questions from people in the Hornsby Shire

Sources

Crash figures are Transport for NSW open data (CC BY 4.0). Scheme rules come from the legislation and guidance below.

• Transport for NSW, NSW Road Crash Data 2020 to 2024 (CRASH table, open data), retrieved 2 October 2026.
• Motor Accident Injuries Act 2017 (NSW), ss 3.11, 3.15, 3.28, 3.35 and 6.13
• Workers Compensation Act 1987 (NSW), ss 36 and 60
• Workplace Injury Management and Workers Compensation Act 1998 (NSW), ss 44, 49, 248, 261 and 267
• SIRA, Motor Accident Guidelines Part 4 (claims), paragraphs 4.68, 4.69, 4.78 and 4.79
• SIRA, guide for people injured in a motor vehicle accident
• SIRA, list of CTP insurers
• SIRA, Nominal Defendant
• SIRA, work break and journey claims
• Service NSW, apply for personal injury benefits (motor vehicle accident)
• NSW Road Rules 2014, r 287

Place details, population and area:

• Wikipedia: Hornsby Shire
• ABS 2021 Census QuickStats
• Wikipedia: NorthConnex
• Wikipedia: Cherrybrook metro station
• Wikipedia: Pacific Highway (Australia)

This page is general information about the NSW workers compensation and CTP schemes, not legal or medical advice about your situation. Scheme rules were checked in September 2026. For advice about your own injury, speak to a treating clinician.