Projects

Rural and regional roads carry a disproportionate share of fatal and serious-injury crash trauma — they account for the majority of Australian road deaths despite carrying a minority of total vehicle-kilometres. This cross-jurisdiction Austroads project investigates which Safe System-aligned treatments produce reliable crash-reduction outcomes on high-speed, undivided, low-volume rural roads where conventional metropolitan treatments (signalisation, dense protected facilities, low speed limits) are not economically or operationally viable.

The project combines a literature review of international evidence on rural Safe System treatments, an Australia-specific cost-effectiveness model calibrated to local crash and exposure data, and three pilot installation sites across Queensland, Western Australia, and Tasmania covering shoulder sealing, audio-tactile line marking, frangible roadside furniture and intersection-of-stop-controlled approach treatments. Outputs include a treatment-selection guideline tailored to rural network contexts, a cost-benefit reference catalogue, and three pilot evaluation reports informing future national investment in rural safety.