This document provides information about AusRAP (Australian Road Assessment Program) and road safety ratings. It discusses how AusRAP evaluates roads and assigns star ratings based on safety features. Roads with 5 stars have the greatest safety built-in, while 1 star roads have the least. The ratings are helping identify risky road sections and prioritize improvements to achieve a safer road network.

1. August 2008
Safer Roads
Seminar
David Moir, Executive Manager, Member Advocacy
RACWA

2. What is AusRAP?
Sister program
to ANCAP
Part of iRAP

3. What is AusRAP?
EuroRAP
usRAP
Costa
Rica Malaysia &
Vietnam
South
Africa AusRAP
Chile
KiwiRAP

4. Concept of a Dangerous Road
What makes a road dangerous?
- Responses to open-ended question -
2004
Poor surface. Uneven. Poor maintenance. 38% 42%
Potholes. Large potholes. Not fixed. 32% 36%
Inadequate signage 21% 14%
As in 2004, the main
Narrow roads 17% 21%
concept of a dangerous
road relates to its
Poor visibility 16% condition and 12%
maintenance.
Inadequate lighting 13% 11%
Corners, bends 11% 13%
Weather 11% -
ANOP, 2007

5. Here’s how the National Strategy says we
could save 700 lives every year
Improved Safer Driver New
roads vehicles behaviour technology

6. A safe system:
Safer drivers in safer cars on safer roads

7. How safe are our roads?
Rate has
increased

8. WA’s contribution is nothing to be proud of
12.0
11.5
Western Australia
11.0
10.5
Deaths per 100,000 population
10.0
9.5
9.0
8.5
8.0
Australia
7.5
7.0
6.5
6.0
National target
5.5
5.0
Dec-00
Dec-01
Dec-02
Dec-03
Dec-04
Dec-05
Dec-06
Dec-07
Dec-08
Dec-09
Dec-10

9. Where AusRAP fits in
Communication AusRAP
and funding
ARRB NetRisk
Road network Uses safety triggers to identify
screening high risk parts of a road network
for investigation
ARRB RSRM
Site treatment
Assess, prioritise and track
particular site treatments

10. Who will benefit?
Road users:
Community pressure
Awareness of risk
Adapt road user behaviour
Governments, authorities, planners and
engineers:
Business case for road improvements
Tracking of road improvements
Decision-making about road investments
Compare performance of roads
Discussion on technical standards

11. How does AusRAP star-rate roads?
Star-ratings measure safety built-in to the road
Identifies risky sections of road before a crash occurs
In NZ in 2004, 54% of fatal crashes occurred where
there had been no other injury crashes in the previous
4 years
Measures likelihood and severity
Method developed with ARRB Consulting

12. How is the data collected?

13. What elements are inspected?
For run-off road and head-on crashes:
divided or undivided
lane width
sealed shoulder width
alignment
terrain
line marking
roadsides
traffic speeds
overtaking provision

14. What elements are inspected?
For intersection crashes:
type of intersection
volume of traffic on side road (or railway)
traffic speeds
alignment of side roads (or railway)
sight distances
right and left turn provision

15. Road Protection Score (RPS)
Star-ratings are based on a RPS
Crash risk ‘score’ can be assigned to each of the
road’s design elements
Eg: crash risk on road with narrow lanes (<2.8m) 50%
higher than wide lanes (3.6m)
RPS combines these scores to form a star-rating

16. Bruce Highway, QLD
Severe roadside
Narrow
shoulders
Bad overtaking
Curves
Undivided

17. Great Eastern Hwy, WA
Straight
Moderate
roadside
Moderate
shoulders
Good overtaking
Good lines
Undivided

18. Pacific Hwy, NSW
Straight
Severe roadside
Good overtaking
Good lines
Wide shoulders
Wide lanes
Divided – innovative use of barriers

19. ‘Risk Worm’

20. AusRAP Star Ratings
AusLink National Network
***** 0%
**** 42%
*** 55%
** 3%
* 0%

24. AusRAP Star Ratings
AusLink National Network in NSW
***** 0%
**** 24%
*** 68%
** 8%
* 0%
Before After

25. Crash costs by star rating
(cents per kilometre travelled)
10 Crash costs halved
Crash costs
halved again
5
3
2 3 4
Star rating

26. Lifting the Network to 4 stars
Research question:
What is the least-cost way of lifting a
significant proportion of the national
network to 4 stars?

27. Preliminary Results for NSW
Total investment: $14 billion (no time period set)
($ million)

28. Preliminary results for NSW
Improvements in Star Ratings as a result of
investment (% of network by star rating)
80%
68%
70% After Before 61%
60%
50%
39%
40%
30% 24%
20%
8%
10%
0% 0% 0% 0% 0%
0%
1 2 3 4 5
Star rating

29. Acknowledgements

31. Star Ratings
Typical road
Rating Scale
Divided Road Undivided Road
Straight with good line-marking, wide
lanes and sealed shoulders, safe No undivided roads can achieve a 5-star
roadsides and occasional over- or rating.
under-pass intersections.
Minor deficiencies in some road
Straight with good overtaking provision,
features such as lane width, shoulder
good line-marking and safe roadsides.
width, roadside or roadsides.
Major deficiencies in some road
features such as poor median Minor deficiencies in some road features
protection against head-on crashes, such as alignment and roadsides and/or
many minor deficiencies and/or poorly poorly designed intersections at regular
designed intersections at regular intervals.
intervals.

32. Star Ratings
Typical road
Rating Scale
Divided Road Undivided Road
Major deficiencies in some road features
Many major deficiencies such as poor
such as poor roadsides and/or many
alignment, poor roadsides and
minor deficiencies such as insufficient
median protection and poorly
overtaking provision and narrow lanes,
designed intersections at regular
and/or poorly designed intersections at
intersections.
regular intervals intersections.
Poor alignment, in mountainous Poor alignment, in mountainous terrain,
terrain, narrow lanes and shoulders, narrow lanes and sealed shoulders, poor
severe roadside conditions and many line marking and severe roadside
major intersections. conditions.