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Unlike cars with their four-wheeled stability, motorcycles rely on only two small contact points with the road, making them highly sensitive to changes in surface conditions. Even subtle variations in texture, dips, ruts, or patches of loose gravel can disrupt their...

We're proud to be corporate supporters of Victoria Walks - an organisation committed to transforming public spaces into safe, vibrant and walkable spaces. Victoria Walks is an evidence-based health promotion charity, leading the move for walkable communities in...

Congratulations to Benjamin Ryan, Engineer at Safe System Solutions, on achieving his iRAP accreditation. This is another great step in our ongoing work to support governments by Star Ratings for roads, streets and upgrade designs. Using Star Ratings to show the...

Throwback to one of Australia’s first wire rope safety barrier commercials, created to educate the public on the extensive rollout along the Princes Highway East (part of the PHE Route Safety Strategy). Local road safety advocate Andy Milbourne delivers a succinct...

A recent UK study found that 43% of people driving a large vehicle did not know the height of the vehicle they were driving. The video below showcases one of Melbourne’s most struck rail bridges - Racecourse Road. For a deeper dive into this issue, check out our...

Rule 72 of the Australian Road Rules states that a driver turning into a road must give way to any pedestrian at or near the intersection who is crossing the road the driver is entering. Unfortunately, this rule is neither well-known nor consistently obeyed. Just have...

When a barrier fails to contain a vehicle it’s often because the vehicle has vaulted over it. This can occur because of several factors: Older barrier systems: These are typically lower than modern barriers, which have been designed with increased height to account...

Drivers may end up going the wrong way on divided carriageways for a variety of reasons, including: 🚘 Confusion about the road layout🚘 Recklessly taking a shortcut🚘 Police chase scenarios🚘 Thrill-seeking🚘 Impairment🚘 Emergencies🚘 Avoiding traffic There are only a few...

The conversation around vehicle safety often centres on private vehicles and their ability to protect occupants. This focus leaves gaps in our understanding of safety outcomes for mass transit modes like passenger rail and buses. Isolated studies have suggested...

When people imagine a vehicle crashing into a roadside barrier, they often picture a shallow-angle drift-off scenario. However, the reality is that barrier systems are struck at a wide variety of angles. The angle of impact is influenced not only by road geometry but...

Safe System Solutions conducted an evaluation of road user behaviour and their perceptions of safety at the Moray Street protected roundabout. Our evaluation found increased usage by both pedestrians and cyclists, large increases in perceived safety for both road user...

When conducting a Safe System Assessment, one key task is to predict potential crashes and quantify their exposure, likelihood, and severity. This is done using the Safe System Assessment Matrix, which includes separate columns for run-off-road crashes and...

When designing 2+1 and 1+1 roads, the central barrier system prevents overtaking. While this enhances safety, it also creates challenges: drivers stuck behind slower vehicles or eager to speed may resort to dangerous behaviour like undertaking (illegally passing a...

Crash outcomes are significantly influenced by the interplay of speed, mass, and crash angle. The angle of impact between vehicles is particularly important in determining the energy transfer to vehicle occupants. Also, vehicles are not uniformly engineered for...

Ramp down terminals may prevent barrier ends from spearing into errant vehicles, but they come with a significant risk of vaulting. This can result in serious crash outcomes, including rollovers. It's important to note that ramp down terminals haven’t been tested to...

One of the most common crash types resulting in motorcycle injuries, particularly in urban areas, is the ‘right turn against’ crash - when a car turns in front of a motorcyclist traveling straight. This crash type also occurs between cars and with cars and cyclists,...

Two transport modes that continue to grow in volume in urban areas are bikes and trucks. While this presents exciting opportunities for sustainable mobility and economic growth, it also raises concerns about safety. A 2018 study by Pokorny et al., titled: Conflicts...

Cyclists are among the most vulnerable road users in collisions with motor vehicles. A fascinating study, Accident Reconstruction and Assessment of Cyclist’s Injuries Sustained in Car-to-Bicycle Collision (Raslavičius et al., 2017), digs into the biomechanics of these...

Wire Rope Safety Barrier system doing what flexible barrier systems do – saving another life. ————– Follow Safe System Solutions Pty Ltd for more Safe System Snippets

Police vehicles are involved in a significantly higher proportion of emergency vehicle collisions than other emergency services. 55.2% police compared to 10.9% for ambulances and 4.8% for fire brigade vehicles. The unpredictable, high-speed nature of police duties...