Road Safety
- Publication no: AGRS05-19
- ISBN: 978-1-925854-37-4
- Published: 4 September 2019
- Edition: 2.0
- Superseded
- PDF (free) Download
Road trauma in regional and remote areas of Australia and New Zealand are a major road safety problem. Drivers and riders in regional and remote areas are at an unacceptably greater risk of road deaths and injuries than those living in major cities.
This edition of the Austroads Guide to Road Safety Part 5: Road Safety for Rural and Remote Areas provides practical guidance on the most effective responses to reduce road trauma in regional and remote areas in Australia and New Zealand.
The guide examines the characteristics of crashes on regional and remote roads through analyses of casualty crash data and identifies causes and risks associated with regional and remote crashes in the existing literature. Closely aligned with the Safe Systems holistic approach to eliminating harm on the road network, the guide concludes with a discussion of evidence-based countermeasures and new initiatives that are urgently needed to eliminate fatalities and serious injuries in regional and remote areas.
A restructured edition of Guide to Road Safety was published in July 20201. The material from this Part was incorporated into:
Guide to Road Safety Part 2: Safe Roads
Guide to Road Safety Part 3: Safe Speed
Guide to Road Safety Part 4: Safe People
Guide to Road Safety Part 5: Safe Vehicles
Guide to Road Safety Part 7: Road Safety Strategy and Management
Edition 2.0 of the Guide includes updates throughout:
- Section 1 Introduction: new and updated content
- Section 2 Crashes in Regional and Remote Areas: updated with 2012-2016 statistics and a new section on trends and issues.
- Sections 3 and 4: restructured on Safe System Principles with new and updated content
- New Appendix A Fatal and Injury Crash Data Tables.
- 1. Introduction
- 1.1 Background
- 1.1.1 The Safe System and national road safety strategies
- 1.2 Regional and Remote Areas
- 1.2.1 Regional and remote areas: The context
- 1.2.2 Defining regional and remote areas
- 1.3 Purpose and Scope of the Guide
- 1.1 Background
- 2. Crashes in Regional and Remote Areas
- 2.1 Crashes on Regional and Remote Roads
- 2.2 Casualties on Regional and Remote Roads
- 2.3 Summary of Findings
- 3. Regional and Remote Road Safety Risk Factors
- 3.1 Safe Roads
- 3.1.1 Road condition
- 3.1.2 Road design
- 3.1.3 Roadside environment
- 3.2 Safe Vehicles
- 3.2.1 Vehicle age and safety
- 3.3 Safe Speeds
- 3.3.1 Speed limits
- 3.4 Safe People
- 3.4.1 Alcohol and illicit drug use
- 3.4.2 Driver fatigue
- 3.4.3 Unlicensed driving
- 3.4.4 Seat belt and child restraint use
- 3.4.5 At-risk populations
- 3.4.6 Post-crash emergency response
- 3.1 Safe Roads
- 4. Regional and Remote Road Safety Countermeasures
- 4.1 Safe Roads
- 4.1.1 Improved road design and infrastructure
- 4.1.2 Corridor protection and flexible barriers
- 4.1.3 Intersections
- 4.1.4 Separating animals from traffic
- 4.1.5 Funding for countermeasures
- 4.2 Safe Vehicles
- 4.2.1 Vehicle technologies to mitigate crash involvement
- 4.2.2 Promoting the use of safe vehicles
- 4.3 Safe Speeds
- 4.3.1 Lower speed limits
- 4.3.2 Engineering treatments
- 4.3.3 Enforcing safe speeds
- 4.3.4 Vehicle countermeasures - ISA
- 4.3.5 Workplace speed management: In-vehicle technologies
- 4.4 Safe People
- 4.4.1 Drink driving
- 4.4.2 Illicit drug driving
- 4.4.3 Fatigue management
- 4.4.4 Unlicensed driving
- 4.4.5 Seat belt and child restraint use
- 4.4.6 At-risk populations
- 4.4.7 Post-crash response time and trauma management
- 4.5 Summary: Safe System Countermeasures for Regional and Remote Areas
- 4.6 Effective Planning for a Safe System on Regional and Remote Road Networks
- 4.1 Safe Roads
- References
- Appendix A Fatal and Injury Crash Data Tables