Safer roads and roadsides

• Road improvements contributed to almost an 11 percent drop in rural road deaths and a 15.8 percent drop in urban road deaths between 1997 and 2005, but we can do much more.
• Head-on crashes account for 23 percent of all fatal crashes. Yet over 90 percent of them could be avoided by installing a median barrier.
• Loss of control contributes to 40 percent of all fatal crashes. These crashes would be less severe if there were median barriers present and roadside objects were protected or removed.
• 21 percent of our fatal crashes occur at intersections (this figure includes some of the above types of crashes). These crashes could be prevented by using methods such as skid-resistant road surfaces and traffic calming.

How can we make our roads safer?

Implement targeted programmes for high volume high-risk rural roads
We could introduce a targeted programme of engineering methods like rumble strips and median barriers to prevent the most common types of crash on these roads, in particular head-on, loss of control and run-off road crashes.
 
Initiatives to improve safety at urban intersections:

a) Support a targeted programme of treatments at high-risk urban intersections
Many intersection crashes are preventable with good intersection design, speed management and enforcement of road rules (eg red-light running). Various engineering methods could be used to treat high-risk intersections. These include more traffic control signals, roundabouts, advance stop boxes for cyclists, raised pedestrian crossings and speed control treatments.

To support this initiative, we also propose two possible changes to the give way rules.

b) Change the give way rules for turning traffic
We could change the current give way rule to require traffic turning right to give way to traffic turning left into the same road. Changing this give way rule would make intersection decisions much easier (including at T-junctions) and could reduce intersection crashes by at least 7 percent.

c) Change the give way rules for pedestrians
We could also require all turning vehicles at intersections with no traffic lights to give way to pedestrians crossing the road the vehicle is turning into.

Develop and support new approaches to safety on urban mixed-use arterials
Many arterial roads have high traffic volumes, cross many intersections and carry a variety of road users, including pedestrians trying to cross the busy road. We could look at a programme of demonstration projects that would assist local authorities to improve safety on these roads.

Implement treatments to make high risk roads more self-explaining
We could use engineering methods (eg signage, lane width, road markings, and footpath width) to help people understand the appropriate speed for a road.

Carry out more crash reduction studies
Our crash reduction studies could be better targeted at particular black spots or black routes (ie sections of the road that have high numbers of fatal and serious crashes), or on particular types of engineering methods, or to a particular user group.

Download the full section on areas of high concern (PDF v7.0, 935kb)

Download the full discussion document (PDF v7.0, 2.50mb)