Institutional and Cultural Barriers in Road Safety Peter Daly Chief Engineer Traffic and Roads

Outline 1. RACV interest 2. Context 3. Models of safety 4. Our biggest problem 5. The solutions

RACV Members RACV represents 1.4 million road users Collectively the Australian Clubs represent 6.4 million users Motoring community who use many modes (motorised and non-motorised) R A C V I n t e r e s t

RACV & road safety Advocacy Information Education Dedicated research R A C V I n t e r e s t

Advocacy Information Education Dedicated research R A C V I n t e r e s t RACV & road safety

C o n t e x t People want mobility….. ANOP research clearly shows people value mobility ABS 2000: Transport expenditure was 15.7% of total household expenditure - second only to food as a consumer item

…..and this wont go away C o n t e x t Mobility is a real need and one demanded by the community Enhanced mobility and enhanced safety should not be a trade-off Transport systems can be safe for the required level of mobility

Blame models are outdated National road safety strategy – 700 lives per year by 2010 Safer drivers, in safer cars, on safer roads M o d e l s o f s a f e t y

Old Fix the Driver Model Behaviour Road Vehicle Over 90% of accidents result from human error - but to err is human! M o d e l s o f s a f e t y

Death Reducing Model seatbelt education, experience, novice drivers drink drive law penalties, gaol forgiving design: OHS model Road & Vehicle Criminal & Unstable Unwise M o d e l s o f s a f e t y

Surviving More Than 70km/h Even moderate speeds will kill if the car and road dont work together as a system to protect people from severe impacts M o d e l s o f s a f e t y

Roadside Safety – the hard nut In Victoria, four out of every ten deaths result from impacts with roadside hazards In rural areas, more than five of every ten deaths occur in this way. While the road toll has trended downwards, the proportion of roadside deaths remains alarmingly high O u r B i g g e s t P r o b l e m

But we know how to crack it !!! We know what constitutes a safe roadside Safer roads and roadsides can reduce crashes by 40 % on average Some treatments can reduce certain crash types by up to 80% So what is stopping us? O u r B i g g e s t P r o b l e m

Why arent we doing it? The problem is not only technical Blockers between knowledge and action : 1. Lack of community and political salience 2. Diversity of objectives among stakeholders 3. Ill-defined stakeholder accountability 4. Technical short comings O u r B i g g e s t P r o b l e m

Blocker 1 Run off road crashes lack community and political salience Pre-occupation with human error aspect blame the driver media tends to highlight the most extreme cases and the reports typically implicate excessive speeds and extremely risky behaviours little public and political support for large expenditure into infrastructure improvements that will protect such drivers. O u r B i g g e s t P r o b l e m

Blocker 2 The diversity of key stakeholders creates conflicting priorities Road and road reserve serve a diverse range of purposes for a diverse range of organisations Diversity of objectives in these organisations creates conflicting priorities Adverse safety impacts are not a priority for many of these organisations O u r B i g g e s t P r o b l e m

Blocker 3 Lines of accountability are ill defined Accountability of stakeholder organisations are ill defined in terms road safety outcomes While specific initiatives may be assigned to organisations, no explicit links between program outputs and road safety outcomes. O u r B i g g e s t P r o b l e m

Blocker 4 Technical short comings Shortcomings in existing standards Many situations which require standards but are governed only by guidelines O u r B i g g e s t P r o b l e m

Overcoming the blockers In order to overcome these impediments, we need: 1. a formal commitment to a Safe Infrastructure System 2. to assign specific accountabilities for reducing road trauma to key agencies 3. to ensure performance is transparent 4. to review all existing standards and warrants T h e S o l u t I o n s

Creating the constituency AusRAP – Aust. Road Assessment Program Sister program to ANCAP (Australian New Car Assessment Program) Based on EuroRAP – 2 main outputs – Risk Mapping of Casualty Crashes – Road Protection Score based on engineering features T h e S o l u t I o n s

AusRAP Star Ratings Provides a 5 star rating of the safety of the road based on the safety features T h e S o l u t I o n s

AusRAP Star Ratings T h e S o l u t I o n s

Overcoming the blockers If we can make roads match the protection of cars, death and serious injury in road crashes will stop being regarded as something that is normal If we had 5-star drivers in 5-star cars on 5-star roads, there would be no fatalities T h e S o l u t I o n s

Thank you