The poor quality of parts of Australia’s regional road network is resulting in a high number of crashes and fatalities. Between 2008 and 2016, the Office of Road Safety identifies that 55% of road fatalities in Australia occurred in regional areas.
Key reasons for higher death rates outside of cities are high speed roads and road design characteristics - a number of roads in regional and remote areas are undivided, single carriageways with poorer surface conditions and geometry, and increased roadside hazards (legacy road standard). 73% of fatalities in regional areas were the result of lane departure (run-off road and head-on) crashes.
Relative to population size, the number of fatalities in regional areas was over four times greater than for major cities over the same period.
While behavioural factors are a significant cause of road crashes, infrastructure deficiencies such as the curvature of roads are also a cause of accidents. Infrastructure can play an important role in mitigating the consequences of road accidents through features such as safety barriers and the appropriate placement of embankments, poles and other roadside objects.
There is a risk that the growing road freight task may exacerbate these road safety issues as more heavy vehicles travel on roads in regional areas.
This program proposal recognises the need to continue identifying, assessing and prioritising high-risk sections of regional roads across Australia. These sections could be addressed through targeted infrastructure improvements, such as alignment corrections, truck driver rest stops and safety barriers, as well as modern road safety infrastructure technology to improve road safety outcomes.
The Infrastructure Priority List separately identifies the following proposals that align with this national listing:
- Regional NSW road network safety improvements.
- Regional and rural WA road network safety improvements.
There is also an opportunity to deliver road safety improvements alongside maintenance works on corridors, where it is efficient to do so. National road maintenance backlog is also recognised as an Early-Stage Proposal.
The National Road Safety Strategy 2021-30 includes targets to reduce fatalities and serious injuries through the implementation of a five-year National Road Safety Action Plan. The Strategy and Action Plan are anticipated to be finalised in 2022.
This proposal calls for program submissions that relate to improving road safety in each jurisdiction.
We continue to encourage relevant organisations to fully assess this problem in their respective locality, state or territory (Stage 1 of Infrastructure Australia’s Assessment Framework) prior to identifying and analysing potential investment options (Stage 2 of Infrastructure Australia’s Assessment Framework).
Refer to Infrastructure Glossary for terms and definitions.