Safer Journeys action plan - safe roads and roadsides
Last updated on
13/02/2012 10:25 a.m.
This page sets out the actions for creating safe roads and roadsides for 2011-2012.
Area of high concern
Over the period 2005 to 2009, head-on crashes were a factor in 28 percent of deaths and 15 percent of serious injuries. For the same period, loss of control was a factor in 39 percent of deaths and 38 percent of serious injuries, and crashes that occurred at intersections were a factor in 18 percent of deaths and 31 percent of serious injuries.
Many of these crashes could be prevented, or the consequences minimised, through improved engineering on our roads.
Our 2020 goal
Our long-term goal is to significantly reduce the likelihood of crashes occurring, and to minimise the consequences of those crashes that do occur. We also aim to reduce the number of fatal and serious crashes on the high-risk sections of New Zealand’s State highways and local roads.
Changing roading infrastructure takes time. The gains from improving roads will occur over the long term. Many benefits will not be realised until the later years of the strategy.
Focus areas
We know how to make our roads safer. Engineering solutions such as median barriers, skid-resistant surfaces, forgiving roadsides, separate cycle lanes and intersection improvements have a proven track record.
However, New Zealand’s roading network is comparatively long, our geography is challenging, and our population base is small, so roading solutions are not always practical or affordable. To prioritise, we have identified three areas that we need to focus on.
Targeting high-risk rural roads and high-risk urban intersections
Targeting high-risk rural roads and high-risk urban intersections will maximise the cost effectiveness of reducing deaths and serious injuries through Safe System solutions. Actions in this area will also support motorcycle, pedestrian and cycle safety.
Progress Safe System demonstration projects
Show-casing the improvements that can be made using Safe System measures will demonstrate their effectiveness and encourage road-controlling authorities to adopt a Safe System approach.
Ensure that the Roads of National Significance are implemented with a four star KiwiRAP rating
Roads with a four star KiwiRAP rating provide a high degree of safety protection to users and therefore have fewer crashes resulting in deaths and serious injuries.
Taken together, these focus areas are expected to increase the percentage of the network that has a KiwiRAP star rating of three stars or above. Under a Safe System approach, safer roads and roadsides and speed management approaches are considered together. Where networks have lower safety ratings, a more active approach to speed management will be considered.
Table 2: Safe roads and roadsides actions for 2011-2012
| Focus area |
Actions |
Responsibility |
Targeting high-risk rural roads and high-risk urban intersections
|
Investigate extending KiwiRAP to relevant parts of the local road network. |
Local government/ NZTA |
Develop and use a High-Risk Intersections Guide to identify high-risk intersections and prioritise treatment programmes.
|
NZTA/local government |
| Develop and use a High-Risk Rural Roads Guide to identify high-risk rural roads and prioritise treatment programmes. |
NZTA/local government |
| Use the Police tasking and coordination model and KiwiRAP to identify and target Police activity at high-risk locations, while taking other Safe System treatments into account. |
Police |
| Implement changes to the give way rule. |
NZTA/local government |
| Progress Safe System demonstration projects |
Showcase treatments of high-risk rural roads and high-risk urban intersections (including mixed use arterials where possible) and monitor the road safety outcomes. |
NZTA/local government |
| Ensure that the Roads of National Significance (RoNS) are implemented with a four star KiwiRAP rating |
Design, build and maintain RoNS to ensure the level of safety on each RoNS is a minimum four star (out of five) KiwiRAP rating. |
NZTA |
Table 3: Supporting actions for safe roads and roadsides in 2011-2012
| Focus area |
Actions |
Responsibility |
Improving processes
|
Develop stronger links between State highway best practice and local government best practice. |
NZTA/Local government |
| Use existing safety camera programmes to target specific high-risk road locations/intersections. |
Police
|
| Develop a Safe System audit to complement existing processes and provide increased road safety intelligence and learning for continual improvement. |
NZTA
|
| Apply the State highway classification system to road safety decision-making. |
NZTA
|
| Policy |
Develop a national policy on red light cameras. |
MoT |
Next steps 2013–2015
The focus will be on implementing a package of Safe System actions for State highway and local road infrastructure through the National Land Transport Programme. Work over the next 3 years will also look at guidance, and incentives and partnership opportunities for local government to implement Safe System infrastructure treatments.
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