Safer Roads Seminar

David Moir, Executive Manager, Member Advocacy

RACWA

August 2008

What is AusRAP?

Sister program to ANCAP

Part of iRAP

What is AusRAP?

EuroRAPusRAP

AusRAPSouth Africa

Malaysia & Vietnam

CostaRica

Chile

KiwiRAP

11%

11%

13%

16%

17%

21%

32%

38%

What makes a road dangerous?

Poor surface. Uneven. Poor maintenance.

Potholes. Large potholes. Not fixed.

Narrow roads

Inadequate signage

Corners, bends

Weather

Poor visibility

Inadequate lighting

2004

42%

36%

21%

11%

13%

-

14%

12%

Concept of a Dangerous Road

As in 2004, the main concept of a dangerous

road relates to its condition and maintenance.

- Responses to open-ended question -

ANOP, 2007

Here’s how the National Strategy says we could save 700 lives every year

Improved roads

Safer vehicles

Driver behaviour

New technology

A safe system: Safer drivers in safer cars on safer roads

How safe are our roads?Rate has increased

WA’s contribution is nothing to be proud of

Australia

Western Australia

5.05.56.06.5

7.07.58.08.59.09.5

10.0

10.511.011.512.0

Dec

-00

Dec

-01

Dec

-02

Dec

-03

Dec

-04

Dec

-05

Dec

-06

Dec

-07

Dec

-08

Dec

-09

Dec

-10

Dea

ths

per 1

00,0

00 p

opul

atio

n

National target

Where AusRAP fits inAusRAP

ARRB NetRiskUses safety triggers to identify high risk parts of a road network for investigation

ARRB RSRMAssess, prioritise and track particular site treatments

Communication and funding

Road network screening

Site treatment

Who will benefit?Road users:

Community pressureAwareness of risk Adapt road user behaviour

Governments, authorities, planners and engineers:

Business case for road improvementsTracking of road improvementsDecision-making about road investmentsCompare performance of roads Discussion on technical standards

How does AusRAP star-rate roads?

Star-ratings measure safety built-in to the road

Identifies risky sections of road before a crash occurs

In NZ in 2004, 54% of fatal crashes occurred where there had been no other injury crashes in the previous 4 years

Measures likelihood and severity

Method developed with ARRB Consulting

How is the data collected?

What elements are inspected?For run-off road and head-on crashes:

divided or undividedlane widthsealed shoulder widthalignment terrain line markingroadsides traffic speedsovertaking provision

What elements are inspected?For intersection crashes:

type of intersection volume of traffic on side road (or railway)traffic speedsalignment of side roads (or railway)sight distancesright and left turn provision

Road Protection Score (RPS)

Star-ratings are based on a RPS

Crash risk ‘score’ can be assigned to each of the road’s design elements

Eg: crash risk on road with narrow lanes (<2.8m) 50% higher than wide lanes (3.6m)

RPS combines these scores to form a star-rating

Undivided

Severe roadside

Narrow shoulders

Bad overtaking

Curves

Bruce Highway, QLD

Moderate shoulders

Straight

Undivided

Good overtaking

Moderate roadside

Good lines

Great Eastern Hwy, WA

Divided – innovative use of barriers

Severe roadside

Wide lanes

Wide shoulders

Good lines

Good overtaking

Straight

Pacific Hwy, NSW

‘Risk Worm’

AusRAP Star RatingsAusLink National Network

* * * * * 0%

* * * * 42%

* * * 55%

* * 3%

* 0%

AusRAP Star RatingsAusLink National Network in NSW

* * * * * 0%

* * * * 24%

* * * 68%

* * 8%

* 0%

AfterBefore

Crash costs by star rating(cents per kilometre travelled)

5

3

10

2 3 4Star rating

Crash costs halved

Crash costs halved again

Lifting the Network to 4 stars

Research question:

What is the least-cost way of lifting a significant proportion of the national

network to 4 stars?

Preliminary Results for NSWTotal investment: $14 billion (no time period set)

($ million)

Preliminary results for NSWImprovements in Star Ratings as a result of investment (% of network by star rating)

0%

61%

0%0% 0%

68%

8%

0%

39%

24%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

54321

Star rating

After Before

Acknowledgements

Star Ratings

Typical roadRating Scale

Divided Road Undivided RoadStraight with good line-marking, wide

lanes and sealed shoulders, safe roadsides and occasional over- or

under-pass intersections.

No undivided roads can achieve a 5-star rating.

Minor deficiencies in some road features such as lane width, shoulder

width, roadside or roadsides.

Straight with good overtaking provision, good line-marking and safe roadsides.

Major deficiencies in some road features such as poor median

protection against head-on crashes, many minor deficiencies and/or poorly

designed intersections at regular intervals.

Minor deficiencies in some road features such as alignment and roadsides and/or poorly designed intersections at regular

intervals.

Star Ratings

Many major deficiencies such as poor alignment, poor roadsides and median protection and poorly

designed intersections at regular intersections.

Major deficiencies in some road features such as poor roadsides and/or many

minor deficiencies such as insufficient overtaking provision and narrow lanes, and/or poorly designed intersections at

regular intervals intersections.

Poor alignment, in mountainous terrain, narrow lanes and shoulders,

severe roadside conditions and many major intersections.

Poor alignment, in mountainous terrain, narrow lanes and sealed shoulders, poor

line marking and severe roadside conditions.

Typical roadRating Scale

Divided Road Undivided Road