Austroads: Transport Research and Trends

Minimising the risk of roadside crashes is important in reducing the number of fatalities and serious injuries on our roads. The recently updated Part 6 of the Austroads Guide to Road Design includes a new method to determine the risk associated with roadside crashes and to identify where risk mitigation treatments are required on urban and rural road networks. The approach establishes a Network Roadside Risk Threshold (NRRIT) which consistently directs the locations for treatments within projects.

This webinar, presented by Peter Ellis and Rod Troutbeck on 6 October 2020, describes the procedure’s background in detail explaining the concepts and research behind it.

The presentation slides can be downloaded from the supporting documents tab after logging in.

This webinar, presented on 30 June 2020 by Zia Rice, Tyrone Toole and Lory Noya, looks specifically into the use of the life-cycle costing framework and the important components that are considered for the assessment of an unsealed road. Special guest speakers from ARRB’s Asset Management team provide greater detail into the life-cycle costing examples through the presentation of several case studies.

This webinar, presented on 30 June 2020 by Zia Rice, Tyrone Toole and Lory Noya, looks specifically into the use of the life-cycle costing framework and the important components that are considered for the assessment of an unsealed road. Special guest speakers from ARRB’s Asset Management team provide greater detail into the life-cycle costing examples through the presentation of several case studies.

This webinar, delivered on 9 April 2020, examines alcohol related road trauma and reports on the differing legislation, penalty and enforcement policies and practices in place across Australian jurisdictions. It recommends improvements in policy and practice for both the short and long term.

It was presented by Greer Banyer, Eric Howard and Anne Harris.

This webinar, presented by Dr Bruce Corben on 26 March 2020, demonstrates ways to integrate Safe System design and operation with Movement and Place for vulnerable road users, in particular pedestrians and cyclists.

This webinar, held on 27 February 2020, provides an overview of Austroads guidance on contemporary best practice methods for developing and implementing road safety management frameworks for local government.

Local government roads typically have a more diverse range of road types, environments and users than state roads, which makes them difficult to manage. The crash rate is generally twice that of state roads and previously much of the body of industry guidance has not been directly relevant to the local government sector.

It covers:
• the road safety management system and its relevance for local government in Australia and New Zealand
• principles and processes for the development of a framework for road safety management
• developing interventions for local government and key stages in developing of road safety programs
• implementation and the importance and purpose of monitoring and evaluation.

This webinar was presented by Paul Durdin.

This webinar provides an overview of the ‘Vehicles as a Workplace: Work Health & Safety Guide' from a safety, regulatory and industry perspective.

The Vehicles as a Workplace Guide provides practical risk management guidance for individuals and organisations who use vehicles on public roads for work.

The guide describes a process for dealing with road traffic hazards in line with work health and safety (WHS) legislation and road traffic safety principles. It covers all vehicle use in road traffic and complements other legislative requirements that apply to businesses whose primary purpose is transport, such as bus, truck or taxi operators.

The webinar was presented on 9 October 2019 by Martin Small, Grant Phillips, Mace Hartley and Peter Daly.

This webinar provides an overview of the causes and contributing factors behind road crashes in regional and remote areas, and strategic guidance to identify the best approaches to eliminate harm.

It covers:

• key current road safety issues in regional and remote areas based on crash data and the research literature
• stakeholder perspectives on current issues
• evidence-based measures and new initiatives for improving road safety in regional and remote areas
• recommendations, aligned with the Safe System approach, that provide strategic directions for future actions
• future opportunities for regional and remote road safety.

The webinar was presented on 1 October 2019 by Melissa Watts and Dr Lisa Wundersitz.

This webinar gives an overview of an Austroads pilot project to improve the measurement and reporting of serious injury crashes.

It covers

• background and objectives of the study
• the data provision, preparation and analysis
• statistical results such as non-fatal hospitalised roads injury cases
• conclusions from Stage 1 of the project and recommendations.

The webinar was presented on 4 April 2019 by Professor James Harrison and Dr Angela Watson.

This webinar provides an overview of Infrastructure Risk Rating - a simple road assessment methodology designed to assess road safety risk at a network level, primarily as an input to the speed limit setting process.

It covers:

• case studies demonstrating speed management interventions that were successfully applied in Australia and New Zealand
• good practice guidance for engagement and consultation to effectively implement speed management interventions
• the Infrastructure Risk Rating Tool which allows Infrastructure Risk Rating to be calculated for a road segment by selecting key road and roadside attributes
• recommendations towards the implementation of the findings of the project.

The webinar was presented on 26 March 2019 by Haris Zia and Dale Harris.