New Comprehensive Guide from Austroads

20 July 2021

Following the adoption of The Safe System by Australia and New Zealand as part of their road safety strategies, Austroads has published an updated Guide to Road Safety , which has been restructured to reflect the Safe System.

Safe System takes a holistic view of road transport. It recognises that people will make mistakes but aims to create a system where mistakes and crashes do not result in death or serious injury. It recognises that preventing death and serious injury requires road managers and safety practitioners to address risks in all parts of the transport system: roads and roadsides, travel speeds, vehicles and road users. It is committed to the safety of all people using the road system,

The Guide is structured as follows:

• Part 1: Introduction and The Safe System introduces Safe System and the structure of the Guide, including the interlinking and overlap between parts.
• Part 2: Safe Roads is designed to help practitioners minimise the risk of road crashes including run-off-road, intersection and head-on crashes and to implement countermeasures to achieve a safe road system.
• Part 3: Safe Speed provides an overview of speed limits and their application as a speed management tool.
• Part 4: Safe People considers the human factors and behavioural considerations that impact safety outcomes on the road network.
• Part 5: Safe Vehicles considers the vehicle factors and features that impact safety outcomes on the road network.
• Part 6: Managing Road Safety Audits and Part6A: Implementing Road Safety Audits provide guidance on the procurement, management and conduct of road safety audits.
• Part 7: Road Safety Strategy and Management is intended as a guide to the process of road safety strategy development, management, evaluation and risk assessment.

The Guide to Road Safety can be downloaded here.   It is not intended to provide complete coverage of every aspect of road safety activities. Publications other than the Guide will continue to provide new information, promote discussion, or deal with issues where other stakeholders have primary responsibility, such as education or enforcement.

Join for two webinars providing an overview of the restructure.

August 24 2021 : Focusing on Part 1, this session will explain how to use the guide and will outline key points for each of the new parts. It will also cover opportunities for future research.

August 26 2021: his webinar will focus on Part 7 which contains guidance on contemporary approaches to road safety strategy development and road safety management. It will cover the latest concepts and practices in strategy development including target setting, back-casting for scenario building and the use of performance indicators to sustain a results-focused approach to whole-of-road system transformation.