Road Safety

The Safe Systems approach has been adopted in Australia and aims to provide a road system that protects responsible road users from death and serious injury. A Safe System approach recognises that road users are fallible and will continue to make mistakes, but that they should not be penalised with death or serious injury when they do make mistakes. In a Safe System, therefore, roads (and vehicles) should be designed to reduce the incidence and severity of crashes when they inevitably occur. Head-on crashes are one of the most severe type of crash that may occur in rural environments. It is therefore important within a Safe System, that gaps in the knowledge of the factors that contribute to head-on crashes and of methods that may be used to prevent them from occurring be determined. A literature review was undertaken to identify the outcome of recent investigations into contributory factors and countermeasures associated with head-on crashes.