Case Studies

This case study documents a corridor-scale program targeting the two crash types that dominate trauma on high-speed undivided rural main roads: head-on and run-off-road crashes. The program deployed a consistent package of relatively low-cost treatments — wide centreline treatments with audio-tactile line marking, sealed shoulders, edge-line audio-tactile marking, and flexible safety barriers at the highest-risk locations — chosen to keep vehicles in their lane and to reduce the severity of departures when they occur.

The intent was to apply Safe System principles affordably across a long rural corridor where full duplication was not viable. Treatment locations were prioritised using crash history and proactive run-off-road and head-on risk modelling, and the program tracked crash frequency and severity for both vehicle occupants and heavy-vehicle drivers over a multi-year window. Evaluation showed a clear reduction in fatal and serious head-on and run-off-road crashes, with strong benefit-cost performance, and the package became a template for the jurisdiction’s rural network investment.