Road safety planning on the New England Highway by Bryan Freeman

Abstract

During 2018, 245 people lost their lives and more than 6,000 people were hospitalised as a result of serious road crashes on state-controlled roads. Nothing is more important to the Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) than the safety of the people who travel on the state’s vast road network. TMR is committed to achieving the goal of zero fatalities and serious injuries on our roads. This goal is being tackled through the Safe Systems Approach, the recent implementation of the TMR Road Safety Policy, and the priority of state funding towards safety projects. TMR's Road Safety Policy has formalised the Safe Systems Approach and the Safe System Assessment into the forefront of everyday TMR activities. Through the Safe Systems Approach, the aim is to achieve safer roads and roadsides, safer speeds, safer road users and safer vehicles. The New England Highway (Yarraman to Wallangarra) is a high priority state-controlled route due to its significant economic importance. It supports a large number of Queensland’s economic supply chains and is a major north-south link connecting Queensland to New South Wales. But when compared against other state-controlled roads the New England Highway has been identified as a high-risk road due to the significant crash history. From the last 5 years of crash history, there have been high numbers of run-off road, rear-end, adjacent approach at intersections, opposing vehicle turning at intersections and head on crashes. Why is this the case? Potentially large sections of high-speed rural environments or high traffic density urban environments. In order to address these identified safety risks on the New England Highway, TMR are completing several planning, design and construction projects along the link to improve safety. This includes projects targeting high crash locations, projects that provide proactive safety treatments at high-risk locations and projects that target sections of road with high crash history in a consistent and cost-effective approach. These safety planning projects raise their own set of challenges such as the perception of low-cost treatments, competing against all state roads for safety funding, competing Transport Coordination Plan Safety objectives and the complexity of individual sites.