My in laws are at Tathra, which burnt up last year.... they will try and make a line for Canberra this morning. I hope it goes well, I can't imagine that getting stuck in a traffic jam would be a great thing either if the fires break out.

As for the sides of the road... I heard that there isn't the resources to safely do traffic management anyway, so it would be a touch dangerous on long stretches of road. Plus, as you said, there needs to be easy access for emergency vehicles....

Great for your sister in law... doing good work... I only wish there was a way to hold the people who got us into this mess accountable... but there won't be, after all, if you can't get the people responsible for more mundane things like oil spills or the Great Financial Crisis... you have no chance of getting accountability here.