ARRB is undertaking a major Austroads research program to assess risk involving road, traffic and roadside infrastructure. The results will provide all road authorities with more effective tools to reduce road crashes and injuries. The focus for the research has been on proactive assessment of risk rather than reliance on data from existing crash locations, although the results complement, and are of use in the traditional blackspot approach to treating risk. The initial research program was aimed at developing a basis for prioritising the treatment of deficiencies identified by road safety audits, and led to the release of the Road Safety Risk Manager (RSRM) expert system software program. Ongoing research is aimed at better defining the relationship between road elements and crash risk. This information will be provided to practitioners in a variety of ways, including through a series of newsletters, and future refinements to the RSRM software. This paper summarises progress on the project to the end of June 2005, and outlines the research program for the near future. (a).
Samenvatting