What is a Network Safety Plan?
A Network Safety Plan is a strategic plan to prioritise safety infrastructure investment to reduce crash risk along the network.
An evidence-based approach to policy setting
Support funding requests
Key Components of a Network Safety Plan
Assessment of Current Conditions:
Evaluate existing road corridors/links, traffic patterns, crash data, etc to identify high-risk areas.
Identify any constraints such as funding, geography, culture, timeframe, etc.
Determine the Road Stereotype:
Categorise roads into different types (from motorways to local roads, midblocks and intersections).
Identify the represented cross-section, major characteristics, and safety level (personal risk, star rating, etc) for each type.
Safety Treatments Selection: Determine the best-improved cross-sections for each funding scenario using the benefit-cost ratio (BCR).
Recommended Corridor Standards: Compare the results for each funding scenario (forecast FSI reductions, star ratings, treatment program cost) and alignment with agency strategic objectives
Principles behind Network Safety Plan
Network-wide risk-based approach: This aims to provide consistent geometric standards for the same stereotype (function) of roads across the network.
Safe System approach
Movement and Place
Self-explaining roads: A self-enforcing road (sometimes referred to as a “self-explaining roadway”) is a roadway that is planned and designed to encourage drivers to select operating speeds in harmony with the posted speed limit. Properly designed self-enforcing roadways can be effective in producing speed compliance and may contribute to less severe crash outcomes.
Medium-term timeframe: such as a 10-year investment period.
Assessment methods: Australian National Risk Assessment Model (ANRAM), Australian Road Assessment Program (AusRAP), etc.
