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Dynamic Visual Obstruction is the term for when a moving vehicle blocks another vehicle’s sightlines. A common place where this occurs is at left turn lanes as demonstrated in the video below.   There are a raft of ways to reduce this risk, including:   Altering the...

The NSW Government makes the following statement on their Towards Zero website:   “It’s important to develop a plan that is specific to your community. Take a look at how other councils have developed their road safety plans to gain some inspiration and insights.” ...

Its back in 2023!Our popular online training course – Raised Crossings – begins on 24th May. Wonderful line-up of presenters:Hafez Alavi – The WhyBridget Doran – The WhoPrue Oswin – The WhereKenn Beer – The How More info here: Training Workshops - Safe System...

There’s a lot of debate in Victoria regarding the interpretation of Road Rule 141(2) (riding past a left turning vehicle) – and especially how it relates to protected bike lanes and intersections. But regardless of the interpretation, the geometry of a protected...

Our recent evaluation for Yarra City Council’s Wombat Crossing (raised pedestrian crossing) on Gipps Street, Abbotsford further solidifies the awesomeness of Wombat Crossings.  The evaluation was performed to understand if pedestrian’s perception of safety had...

A Fresnel lens is a thin lens attached to the passenger side window on a heavy vehicle. The driver then gets a wide-angle view as they look through the lens. This assists the driver to see in their blind spot and notice other road users who may otherwise have been...

We are often asked if we could use plants/shrubs as roadside protection devices. The simple answer is NO. Why? - The effectiveness of a specific planting in being able to stop or slow a wide range of vehicle types is uncertain, and some plantings would also be an...

While left turn onto pedestrian crashes are less frequent and less severe than right turn on to pedestrian crashes, the risk of these crashes can be reduced using many similar techniques, including: - Exclusive pedestrian phases - Fully controlled left turns - Early...

“In what other industry would you find this sort of risk apathy?” was one of Kenn Beer’s thought-provoking questions in his Keynote presentation at the 129th Good Roads conference in Toronto this week. Kenn was invited to be a Keynote Speaker at the conference which...

We’re super excited to announce Sam Pasley as the Managing Director of Safe System Solutions Aotearoa New Zealand. We’re passionate about the implementation of the Safe System approach, and having Sam on the team will help us do this in Aotearoa New Zealand. Sam’s...

Coloured pavement markings for cyclist safety are used around the world for a variety of purposes, including to highlight areas where a conflict point exists between vehicles and cyclists, to direct cyclists along a particular path and also to highlight areas...

We’re often asked to undertake an evaluation of recently installed infrastructure, or recent road safety initiatives, but unfortunately there is often a large gap in baseline data (read: it doesn’t exist).   While not ideal, one should not despair. There are a few...

The gore area is the wedge between a freeway/motorway exit and the continuing road. Drivers need to navigate, decelerate, and change lanes at, or on the approach to, gore areas through specified and compacted geometry. This makes gore areas highly crash-prone...

There are a variety of High Profile Barrier Kerbs (sometimes called High Containment Kerbs) available. Midwest profile has been tested under NCHRP350 Test Level 2, vehicle speed 70km/h, impact angle 25 degrees and vehicle mass 2000kg. VicRoads RDN03-01 states it...

Coloured cycle lanes are used in many countries as a means to alert drivers to the possible presence of a cyclist, and also to guide cyclists along a preferred path. However, a 2008 Danish study found that coloured cycle lanes can have a detrimental effect in complex...

Bicycle storage boxes are intended to aid cyclists being seen, and give them an area to store during a red signal phase. However, according to two European studies, only 22% of all cyclists used the advanced stop line. The main reason for the low utilisation was that...

As vehicles have become more robust and sophisticated, drivers are becoming less aware of the importance of their tyres. Tyres have significantly improved in terms of safety, performance and wear, but they still need attention as one of the vehicle’s most critical...

 In a study of seat belt wearing amongst vehicle drivers, wearing rates for light vehicle drivers in NSW are well over 90% but the rates of seatbelt use by truck drivers were considerably lower at around 75%.  Some of the main findings of the report were:  There are...

The vertical alignment at a railway level crossing can be a critical factor in the risk of crashes involving larger/longer or lower vehicles.  The preference is for the road grading to be smooth at the crossing, however this is rarely possible. Usually, the rail...

There are approximately eight bicycle crashes for each bicycle crash that is reported in official crash statistics. When this under-reporting is considered, the crash rate for cyclists is almost 20 times that of car occupants.  More than 80% of all bicycle crashes...