Effectiveness of combined treatments: shoulder sealing and guard fence

The aim of this study is to reduce the frequency and severity of "single vehicle run off road" and "head on" crashes. It looked at patterns of crashes before and after implementation of the two general treatments that were identified on the same road sections. A difficult part of the study was site selection. The study focused on arterial roads in hilly terrain that are generally winding and narrow. These roads typically have embankments on one or both sides and are also lined with trees. The roads were investigated to identify sections that had been retrofitted with both subject treatments either in the same financial year, or over two consecutive years. After the screening process, seven sites were selected for evaluation. The evaluation of combined treatments was based on a before/after comparison of casualty crashes and crash cost. The key finding has been that considering geographic location, the combined treatments have reduced numbers of casualty crashes by 61 per cent: fatal by approximately 69 per cent, serious injury by about 59 per cent and minor injury by nearly 61 per cent. Casualty crash costs amounted to A$6.24 million per year before treatment, reducing to A$2.11 million per year after treatment, leading to a benefit-cost ratio of 6.7 across all treatment sites. Future research could include control sites to increase confidence in results. To assist evaluations towards optimising investments and outcomes, the maintenance of timely and accurate treatment records, including treatment type and cost, exact location, start and completion dates and preferably in a single database is recommended.

• Authors:
  • Sapkota, J
  • Anderson, C
  • Dua, A
• Conference:
  • Australasian College of Road Safety Conference, 2011, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
• Publication Date: 2011-9

Language

• English

Media Info

• Pagination: 10p
• Monograph Title: A safe system: making it happen!: 1-2 September 2011, Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, Victoria, Australia [proceedings]

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Before and after studies; Benefit cost analysis; Guardrails; Highway safety; Paved shoulders; Road shoulders; Safety; Traffic safety
• Uncontrolled Terms: Road design and asset management; Safe systems (roads)
• Geographic Terms: Australia; South Australia
• ATRI Terms: Before and after study; Crash costs; Crash countermeasure; Road safety; Safety fence; Shoulder
• ITRD Terms: 1661: Accident prevention; 1686: Safety fence
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; I82: Accidents and Transport Infrastructure;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01381407
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: ARRB
• Files: ATRI
• Created Date: Aug 22 2012 12:09PM