Analysis of open road crashes on the Victorian road network by ARRB Transport Research for RACV shows that over 14,500 crashes involving death or injury were recorded between 1997 and 2001, costing the community approximately $2.7 billion. Nearly two-thirds (63 per cent) of these crashes involve vehicles losing control on straights or bends. RACV believes that a mind shift in thinking about road infrastructure safety is necessary to reduce Victoria’s rural road toll. While blackspot programs provide significant benefits and will continue to be necessary, the incremental ‘bottom-up’ improvements they provide are not enough. RACV believes that the necessary quantum leap in rural safety can only be achieved through ‘top-down’ approaches - upgrading rural arterials to an inherently safer level, before people are killed and injured. This paper outlines RACV’s Special Report “Lifeline: Situation Critical for Victoria’s Rural Arterial Road Network” and demonstrates how 100 lives each year can be saved on Victorian rural highways, lowering the road toll by 25 per cent. (Author/publisher) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E211954.
Samenvatting