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The minimum allowable curve radius for wire rope safety barriers in most jurisdictions is 200m (or the supplier’s minimum recommended radius - whichever is greater). However, some jurisdictions allow a 100m radius curve to be used in specific situations (e.g., in...

Safe System Solutions recently celebrated a major milestone: our 1,500th Road Safety Audit! While each of these audits has been fascinating in its own way, this one stood out as particularly unique. Why? Because it involved assessing the safety impacts of projecting...

First gaining popularity in the early 2000s, pedestrian countdown timers are now widely implemented worldwide. These devices integrate a countdown display with pedestrian signals, showing the seconds remaining for pedestrians to safely complete their crossing. ...

Dynamic visual obstruction is the term for when a moving vehicle blocks another road users’ sightlines.   Austroads Guide to Road Design Part 4A now includes a section on Offset Rural Channelised Left Turn Treatments. This was added as part of the 2023 update in...

What begins as a simple drift-off lane departure can quickly escalate into a higher-angle cross-median crash. The angle at which a vehicle impacts a barrier significantly affects the energy transferred to occupants during the crash. Flexible barrier systems are...

Load Transfer Ratio (LTR) plays a crucial role in vehicle dynamics, describing the distribution of weight shifting between tyres during manoeuvres such as cornering, braking, or accelerating. Properly managing LTR is vital for ensuring stability on the road.  Several...

Safe System Solutions offers transport and road safety expert witness services and litigation support across Australia, including specialist expertise in motorcycle crash cases.  The role of an expert witness is to help the court understand the complex factors...

When motorcyclists crash into barriers, one of two things will be happening (according to the University of NSW):  ~50% are already off the bike, sliding along the ground, colliding with the base of the barrier system.  The other ~50% are still on the bike, trying to...

Humans make mistakes—that’s just a reality. But our roads need to be forgiving, so when those mistakes happen people are not killed or seriously injured. That’s why median barriers are so important: they’re literally life-saving.  While we will continue to work to...

Roundabouts are a well-known rural Safe System treatment, and for good reason. They reduce crashes and crash severity by slowing vehicles on approach, reducing conflict points, and ensuring any collisions happen at safer angles compared to right-angle crashes.  That’s...

“Protect Your Entire Body on Every Ride” - valuable advice from the Victorian Transport Accident Commission (TAC) regarding motorcycle protective gear. While wearing a helmet is the only legal requirement, it’s simply not enough. Covering your entire body can make a...

The recent Bus Collision with Road Barrier Report from Belmont North highlights the critical role of road safety barrier design, choice, delineation, and end terminals in preventing serious injuries. The incident revealed that the sloped leading edge of the barrier...

At Safe System Solutions, we’re proud to have led the Austroads project that developed a series of fact sheets to support regional road safety. This one focuses on Vehicle Activated Signs which are an effective tool to enhance safety at priority-controlled...

Signposts should be designed to be frangible, meaning they fracture, break away, or bend upon impact to reduce damage to vehicles and the risk of injury to occupants. Smaller signs use posts that deform easily, while larger signposts are equipped with mechanisms that...

In Australia and New Zealand, most motorcycle crashes involve a single vehicle losing control, or cars failing to yield to motorcyclists at intersections. Thankfully, motorcycle-to-motorcycle crashes are rare - though they happen more frequently in group rides, where...

By Dr Tana Tan Research and Evaluation Lead | Safe System Solutions Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) play a key role in the Safe System approach to road safety – but what can we do to ensure drivers don’t ‘switch off’ to these features?  ADAS provides drivers...

Across Australia and New Zealand, there are varying views on the placement of slip-based poles within the deflection zone of barrier systems. Historically, the consensus was clear: don’t do it – we don’t know how it will function, thus it’s not acceptable.  However,...

At first glance, central barrier systems might seem like they're only there to prevent head-on collisions. But they actually do much more. These barriers reduce both right and left run-off-road crashes.  A minor distraction or a fatigued driver drifting slightly out...

We've been designing, trialling, and implementing various Vehicle Activated Signs for quite some time now (photo below of some installations back in 2007 in Victoria). With advancing technology, we keep finding even more applications for these signs, including:  Curve...

By Dr Amy Williamson Technical Lead - Safe People | Safe System Solutions In recent years, a slight philosophical division appears to have emerged among road safety professionals about how the human element is addressed in road safety. The 2024 ACRS policy position...