The hurdles of introducing innovative road safety infrastructure solutions: a case study on raised safety platforms

It will be very difficult to achieve a perfectly Safe System on our road network (i.e. zero fatalities or serious injuries) without the introduction of new and innovative road infrastructure treatments. There are treatments that exist overseas and have proven effectiveness; however the uptake of these solutions in Australia has been limited in many cases. This is due to a number of issues, including lack of knowledge on their use and effectiveness, lack of experience with design and implementation, and risk aversion. This paper will discuss issues relating to the future uptake of innovative infrastructure solutions through the case study of raised Safety Platforms on approach to signalised intersections on arterial routes – a new road infrastructure treatment that VicRoads has been in the process of researching, trialling and implementing on Victorian roads. The aim of this treatment is to achieve Safe System vehicle speeds through intersections (50 km/h). Although this infrastructure is used extensively overseas (e.g. in the Netherlands), it has yet to be introduced on arterial roads in Australia. ARRB undertook a comprehensive literature review on the likely benefits of these treatments, performed trials to establish vertical accelerations and driver comfort levels in a variety of vehicle types and performed modelling to assess the effects of road slope on effectiveness. VicRoads is currently in the process of installing the raised Safety Platforms at an intersection near Geelong, Victoria, and is due for completion in July 2015.

• Record URL:
  http://acrs.org.au/publications/acrs-conference-papers/acrs-database/
• Authors:
  • Pratt, K
  • McGarrigle, S
  • Turner, B
• Conference:
  • Australasian Road Safety Conference, 1st, 2015, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
• Publication Date: 2015-10

Language

• English

Media Info

• Pagination: 13p
• Monograph Title: Taking action together: 1st Australasian Road Safety Conference (ARSC2015), 14-16 October, Gold Coast, Queensland

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Case studies; Highway engineering; Signalized intersections; Speed control; Speed control humps; Speeding; Traffic safety; Traffic signals
• Uncontrolled Terms: Safe systems (roads)
• Geographic Terms: Australia; Geelong, Victoria
• ATRI Terms: Case study; Crash countermeasure; Road engineering; Road hump; Signalized intersection; Speed control
• ITRD Terms: 1661: Accident prevention; 8531: Case study; 455: Junction; 2833: Speed control (struct elem)
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; I82: Accidents and Transport Infrastructure;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01591305
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: ARRB
• Files: ITRD, ATRI
• Created Date: Feb 26 2016 9:15AM