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Cover of Review of the National Road Safety Strategy
Review of the National Road Safety Strategy
  • Publication no: AP-R477-15
  • ISBN: 978-1-925294-06-4
  • Published: 6 February 2015

This report details the results of a review of the 2011 Australian National Road Safety Strategy (NRSS) designed to identify new countermeasures or changes in trauma patterns that would support changes to priorities in the next Action Plan.

The project was commissioned as part of the first review of the NRSS and included:

  • a targeted literature review including strategies from successful countries
  • consultation with a wide range of stakeholders
  • a review of the level of implementation of the NRSS
  • data analysis including fatal crash data, hospital separations data, speed surveys, vehicle kilometres travelled and properties of the vehicle fleet.

Increased emphasis was recommended for 13 priority areas including developing a Safe System for vulnerable road users, improving safety for older road users and better understanding serious injuries. It was also recommended that more support be provided for the introduction of new technology for vehicles and infrastructure.

  • Summary
  • The NRSS 2011-20
  • Project Aim
  • Method
  • . Targeted Literature Review
    • 2.1. Vulnerable Road Users
      • 2.1.1. Pedestrians
      • 2.1.2. Cyclists
      • 2.1.3. Motorcyclists
      • 2.1.4. Vulnerable Road Users and Urban Planning
      • 2.1.5. Recent Strategies
    • 2.2. Older Drivers
      • 2.2.1. The Ageing Population and Older Driver Crash Patterns
      • 2.2.2. Future Policy, Strategy and Research Concerning Older Drivers
      • 2.2.3. Vehicle Safety and the Older Driver
      • 2.2.4. Road Infrastructure and the Older Driver
    • 2.3. Communication Approaches
      • 2.3.1. The Road Safety Message
      • 2.3.2. Using Social Media
      • 2.3.3. Message Content
      • 2.3.4. Type of Audience
      • 2.3.5. Future Directions in Communications Approaches
    • 2.4. Developments in Vehicle Technology
      • 2.4.1. Current Emerging Vehicle Technologies
      • 2.4.2. Existing Technologies Not Yet Being Adopted
      • 2.4.3. Communication ITS
      • 2.4.4. Vehicle Technologies
    • 2.5. Post- crash Response
    • 2.6. Summary
  • . Consultation with Members of the ASTF
    • 3.1. Some Observations
  • . Consultation with Stakeholders
    • 4.1. Some Observations
  • . Implementation Review
    • 7.1. Implementation of the First Steps Agenda
      • 7.1.1. Safe Roads
      • 7.1.2. Safe Speeds
      • 7.1.3. Safe Vehicles
      • 7.1.4. Safe People
      • 7.1.5. Making it Happen
    • 7.2. Strategic Areas Identified in the Original MUARC Modelling
      • 7.2.1. Safe Roads
      • 7.2.2. Safe Speed
      • 7.2.3. Safe Vehicles
      • 7.2.4. Safe People
  • Progress Towards Targets
  • Exploration of Hospital Injury Data
  • . Priority Areas
    • 8.1. Introduction
    • 8.2. Vulnerable Road Users
      • 8.2.1. Background
      • 8.2.2. Relationship to the NRSS
      • 8.2.3. Potential Actions
    • 8.3. Older Drivers
      • 8.3.1. Background
      • 8.3.2. Relationship to the NRSS
      • 8.3.3. Potential Actions
    • 8.4. Indigenous Road Users
      • 8.4.1. Background
      • 8.4.2. Relationship to the NRSS
      • 8.4.3. Potential Actions
    • 8.5. Speed Management
      • 8.5.1. Background
      • 8.5.2. Relationship to NRSS
      • 8.5.3. Potential Actions
    • 8.6. Remote Areas
      • 8.6.1. Background
      • 8.6.2. Relationship to the NRSS
      • 8.6.3. Potential Actions
    • 8.7. Vehicle Safety
      • 8.7.1. Background
      • 8.7.2. Relationship to the NRSS
      • 8.7.3. Potential Actions
    • 8.8. Cooperative ITS
      • 8.8.1. Background
      • 8.8.2. Relationship to the NRSS
      • 8.8.3. Potential Actions
    • 8.9. Communication Strategies
      • 8.9.1. Background
      • 8.9.2. Relationship to the NRSS
      • 8.9.3. Potential Actions
    • 8.10. Monitoring Serious Injuries and Crashes
      • 8.10.1. Background
      • 8.10.2. Potential Actions
    • 8.11. Infrastructure Investment
      • 8.11.1. Background
      • 8.11.2. Relationship with the NRSS
      • 8.11.3. Potential Actions
    • 8.12. Coordination with Urban Planning
      • 8.12.1. Background
      • 8.12.2. Relationship to the NRSS
      • 8.12.3. Potential Actions
    • 8.13. Workplace Road Safety
      • 8.13.1. Background
      • 8.13.2. Relationship with the NRSS
      • 8.13.3. Potential Actions
    • 8.14. National Leadership
      • 8.14.1. Background
      • 8.14.2. Relationship to the NRSS
      • 8.14.3. Potential Actions
  • Vulnerable Road Users
  • Older Road Users
  • Indigenous Road Users
  • Speed Management
  • Remote Areas
  • Vehicle Safety
  • Cooperative ITS
  • Communication Strategies
  • Monitoring Serious Injuries and Crashes
  • Infrastructure Investment
  • Coordination with Urban Planning
  • Workplace Road Safety
  • National Leadership
  • Recommendations
  • Glossary
  • Contents
  • 1. Introduction
    • 1.1. The NRSS 2011-20
    • 1.2. Scope of Project
    • 1.3. Report Outline
  • 2. Targeted Literature Review
  • 3. Consultation with Members of the ASTF
  • What do you think have been the three major initiatives implemented in your jurisdiction since 2011?
  • What do you consider to be the three major road safety achievements at the national level since 2011?
  • What role has national leadership or cooperation played in these achievements?
  • What is your impression of the acceptance of Safe System principles at different levels of your organisation and in your partner agencies?
  • What, if any, changes have been made to methods of monitoring crashes, injuries and related behaviours since 2011?
  • Open question to allow discussion of other items nominated by the ASTF members.
  • 4. Consultation with Stakeholders
  • How does your organisation contribute to road safety? Can you nominate any initiatives undertaken by your organisation towards improving road safety since 2011?
  • What do you consider to be the three major road safety achievements at the national level since 2011?
  • Who are your key road safety partners?
  • Are you familiar with the Safe System framework for road safety? If so, what is your impression of the acceptance of Safe System principles within your organisation and amongst your road safety partners?
  • What road safety issues, if any, do you think need to be addressed at the national level?
  • What barriers, if any, do you think exist to addressing these issues?
  • Open question to allow discussion of other items nominated by the participants.
  • 5. Monitoring the NRSS
    • 5.1. Introduction
    • 5.2. Police Fatal Crash Data
    • 5.3. Police Serious Injury and All Injury Data
    • 5.4. Exposure Data
    • 5.5. Speed Data
    • 5.6. Safety of New Vehicles in Vehicle Fleet
  • Motorcyclist and cyclist fatalities
  • Older road user fatalities
  • Regional Areas
  • 6. Exploration of Hospital Data
    • 6.1. Summary of Findings
      • 6.1.1. Overview of Cases
      • 6.1.2. Road Deaths Declined While Serious Injuries Did Not
      • 6.1.3. Motorcyclists and Cyclists Account for the Rise in Serious Injury
      • 6.1.4. Commentary
  • 7. Implementation Review
  • 8. Priority Areas
  • 9. Recommendations
  • References
  • Appendix A Data Sources
  • Appendix B Questions for Initial Consultation with Jurisdictional Members of the Austroads Task Force
  • Appendix C Questions for Consultation with Stakeholder Groups
  • Appendix D Stakeholder Groups
  • Appendix E Performance Indicators
  • Appendix F Fatal and Injury Crash Data
  • F.1 Fatality Data
  • F.2 Injury Data
  • Appendix G Exposure Data
  • Appendix H Speed Survey Data
  • Appendix I New Vehicle Sales
  • Appendix J Analysis of Hospital Separations Data
  • J.1 Introduction
  • J.2 Investigation
  • J.3 Overview of data
  • J.4 Road Deaths Declined While Serious Injuries Did Not
  • J.5 Motorcyclists and Cyclists Accounted for the Rise in Serious Injury
  • J.6 Commentary
  • J.7 Are There Plausible Alternative Explanations for these Observations?
  • J.8 Summary
  • J.9 Data and Methods
  • Data: Deaths (Figures J1 and J2)
  • Data: Serious injuries: traffic and non-traffic (Figures J1 to J8)
  • Population estimates (Figures J1 and J3 to J8)
  • Calculation of incidence rate ratios (Figures J3 to J8)
  • Data tables
  • Appendix K First Steps Agenda
  • Appendix L Future Steps Agenda
  • Appendix M Recent Modelling of Strategy Outcomes
  • Age-period-cohort models of recent trends in driver casualty rates, and the future projection of driver casualty numbers
  • Introduction
  • Age Period Cohort model of driver fatalities in cars and station wagons
  • Using the model to explain past changes in the number of fatalities
  • Using the model to make projections
  • Limitations
  • Generalising to all road deaths and injuries
  • Other models of the effect of future improvements on numbers of people killed and injured in road crashes.
  • Expanding to a national level
  • Appendix N Bibliography
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