Latest News

Road Safety Barriers Technical Training – 20 July 2021

Road Safety Barriers Technical Training – 20 July 2021

Road Safety Barriers technical training course (Melb) starts 20 July.✔Barrier design✔Systems and products✔New Austroads Guide to Road Design Part 6✔Testing✔MASH✔Barrier selection✔Crash cushions✔End terminals✔Design challenges✔Transitions✔Motorcyclists✔Containment...

read more
Safe System Snippet #109 Urban Speed Limit Reduction

Safe System Snippet #109 Urban Speed Limit Reduction

In Australia and New Zealand we fight tooth and nail to reduce the speed limit to 30km/h on each occasion. Perhaps we should follow the Spanish approach and make our urban default speed limit 30km/h, and raise the speed limit on isolated roads with appropriate...

read more
Safe System Snippet #108 Innovative Intersections

Safe System Snippet #108 Innovative Intersections

There are a variety of innovative roundabout designs available that provide increased capacity while still retaining much of the Safe System aligned elements. These include the 'Squarcle' and the 'Cut Through'. These innovative roundabouts require signalisation to...

read more
Safe System Snippet #107 Animal Reflectors

Safe System Snippet #107 Animal Reflectors

Around 5% of crashes with animals result in injury to humans (FHWA 2016). In NSW over a ten year period 1,708 people were injured and there were 24 deaths from crashes with animals. Kangaroos represented 60% (Ramp and Roper 2014). Single vehicle run-off-road crashes...

read more
Safe System Snippet #106 Wire Rope Safety Barriers

Safe System Snippet #106 Wire Rope Safety Barriers

Wire Rope Safety Barriers – curves, sags and crests.Because Wire Rope Safety Barrier systems consist of ropes in tension, the minimum allowable horizontal curve radius is 200 metres in most jurisdictions. When designing, the effect of the curve on barrier deflection...

read more
Safe System Snippet #105 Barrier Flexibility

Safe System Snippet #105 Barrier Flexibility

The more flexible the barrier system the lower the risk to light vehicle occupants.In their paper titled Feasibility of Predicting Light Vehicle Occupant Injury Disutility from Impacts with Road Safety Barriers, Burbridge and Troutbeck (2016) graphed the Acceleration...

read more
Safe System Snippet #104 Compact Roundabouts

Safe System Snippet #104 Compact Roundabouts

Alternatives to raised safety platforms at compact roundabouts.Compact roundabouts on high-speed roads are cheaper than traditional roundabouts.Currently, raised safety platforms (RSPs) are used as an alternative to reverse curves to control vehicle speeds on the...

read more
Safe System Snippet #102 Kerford Road Median Closure

Safe System Snippet #102 Kerford Road Median Closure

Congratulations to the City of Port Phillip for prioritising the safety of the entire community by trialling the closure of the median on Kerferd Road in Albert Park. This decision was despite a local petition opposing the trial.The median closure and upgrades improve...

read more
Safe System Snippet #101 Low Cost Roundabout

Safe System Snippet #101 Low Cost Roundabout

Dunedin, New Zealand – the land of the low-cost compact urban roundabout.The safety benefits of roundabouts are well known. They slow vehicles, remove ultimate priority to a leg and make drivers/riders alert at the conflict point. But the costs can be exorbitant. The...

read more
Safe System Snippet #100 – 2+1 Median Barrier Road

Safe System Snippet #100 – 2+1 Median Barrier Road

A 2+1 median barrier road has a continuous three-lane cross section with alternating passing lanes. A central barrier provides road users protection from head-on and run-off-road crashes, and the overtaking opportunities improve efficiency and mean the road can cater...

read more
Safe System Snippet #99 – Audio Tactile Line Marking

Safe System Snippet #99 – Audio Tactile Line Marking

The effectiveness of Audio Tactile Line Marking (ATLM) is less for heavy vehicles compared to cars. This is because the vibrations through the vehicles are less in the larger vehicles. Truck shoulder rumble strips are an option where the risk of heavy vehicle...

read more
Safe System Snippet #98 – Raised Reflective Pavement Markers

Safe System Snippet #98 – Raised Reflective Pavement Markers

Raised Reflective Pavement Markers (RRPMs) can reduce the likelihood of night-time casualty crashes by up to 21% (Sun and Das 2013). The Victorian colour configuration is: Red: left edge line; right side of large splitter islands (diverging traffic) White: along or...

read more
Safe System Snippet #97 – Shared Path Crossing Priority

Safe System Snippet #97 – Shared Path Crossing Priority

Shared paths inevitably cross roads. The traditional approach was to terminate the shared path and then restart it on the other side of the road. More contemporary practice is to continue the shared path over the road on a raised platform and require vehicles to give...

read more
Safe System Snippet #96 – Wonthaggi Raised Intersection

Safe System Snippet #96 – Wonthaggi Raised Intersection

Best practice example - Wonthaggi raised intersection. When the intersection of the Bass Highway and Korumburra Road was to be upgraded, Regional Roads Victoria – Gippsland took the bold (and ethically responsible) step to protect the travelling community from road...

read more
Safe System Snippet #95 – ANCAP Pedestrian Crash Test

Safe System Snippet #95 – ANCAP Pedestrian Crash Test

ANCAP includes a pedestrian crash test that estimates likely head and leg injuries to child and adult pedestrians. The tests are conducted with head-forms and leg-forms fired at the vehicle at various locations, including the front bumper, bonnet, windscreen and...

read more
Safe System Snippet #94 – High speed Y-Intersection

Safe System Snippet #94 – High speed Y-Intersection

High speed Y-Intersection are one of the most hazardous intersection forms because: ⚠Drivers/riders from one leg may incorrect believe they have priority due to a see-through effect,⚠The angle of entry means one leg must give way to vehicles on an oblique angle (known...

read more