Austroads has published a new guide to support under-resourced councils in navigating their unique and numerous responsibilities in road safety management.
The publication, Local Government Road Safety Management Guidance, is a compilation of the latest research on implementing Safe System principles.
Councils manage approximately 82 per cent of Australian and 88 per cent of New Zealand road networks. These routes accommodate around 36 per cent of all travel in Australia and half of all travel in New Zealand. More than half of all crashes occur on local roads, at a rate nearly double that of state-managed roads.
“Local government roads typically have lower traffic volumes than state roads, more dispersed crashes, a wider variety of road environments, from high-speed rural and remote roads to local streets with houses, shops, bars and schools, and a greater mix of road users including pedestrians and cyclists,” says Paul Durdin, the report’s author.
“All these factors make managing road safety on local roads challenging and this is compounded when local councils have few, if any, dedicated road safety staff.”
The new Austroads guide covers:
- incorporating Safe System practices into road safety management systems and plans;
- road safety treatments for regional and remote roads including low speed limits, one-way traffic, flexible roadside and median barriers;
- off-road shared cycleways and walkways, and curve chevron markers.
Guidance is also provided on forming strategic partnerships, managing shared responsibilities, capacity building, program development and delivery and funding. Monitoring and evaluation principles are explained, with the final section identifying useful tools and resources.
“Local government road safety and engineering teams will benefit from having a concise reference to help their future-decision making,” said Durdin.
“This project will improve access to key road safety information for all local council employees and help them better communicate with their communities about road safety.”
Austroads will host a free webinar on Thursday 27 February 2020, at 1.00pm AEDT to give an overview of the study. Download the report: Local Government Road Safety Management Guidance