This report addresses the issue of run-off-road crashes in Victoria, through the large-scale use of flexible barriers along high-speed roads. The report describes Swedish experience with flexible barriers, detailing the road safety concerns pertinent to Sweden, the different design configurations used to adapt the barriers to various road cross-sections, and its great success in reducing single-vehicle crashes as a result of large-scale use of flexible barriers. The report then addresses how Sweden's experience can be applied on to Victorian roads to target single-vehicle crashes on high-speed roads while adapting barrier layouts to Victorian road types. This initial assessment of flexible barrier use predicts that major savings of up to 90 percent in death and serious injury can be achieved, with no evidence of increased road trauma for motorcyclists. An estimate of the economic value of these savings is several times larger than the investment costs. Further study is required to define, in greater detail, the design concepts and implementation issues for providing flexible barriers along major high-speed routes in Victoria. (Author/publisher)
Abstract