What better way to celebrate completing my 200th Road Safety Audit as a Senior Road Safety Auditor Team Leader than starting my 201st yesterday on Pinjar Road in Wanneroo. A big thank you to Ryan Bettridge from Perth Traffic Training, Benjamin Hawkins from ATM and Aaron Lee from the City of Wanneroo for volunteering time to be a part of this audit. Observing a roadside memorial for a 6 year old boy on site brings home the importance of the work that these guys do.
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The Northern Territory's coroner believes offences were committed regarding the faulty set-up of a traffic diversion that led to the death of a well-known Darwin musician, and has referred the matter to the police commissioner and the director of public prosecutions.
It is worth noting that despite the motorcyclist being found to have a blood alcohol level of 0.204% and a high level of cannabis in his system, the coroner concluded that the poor traffic management set up was a contributing factor to the rider’s death. The Coroner stated: ‘I believe that offences may have been committed in connection with the death of Peter John Bonnell and in accordance with section 35(3) I report my belief to the Commissioner of Police and the Director of Public Prosecutions.’ A full copy of the Coroner's report can be accessed at https://justice.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/474712/D00792016-Peter-Bonnell.pdf I encourage all those involved in the design, implementation, review and auditing of temporary traffic management to read this report. Cambridgeshire County Council has been awarded £550,000 by the Department for Transport (DfT), United Kingdom to create the UK’s first Dutch-style roundabout at Fendon Road and Queen Edith’s Way in Cambridge. The new roundabout scheme will improve safety in the area by giving priority to pedestrians and cyclists over motorists. The Council secured the funding after submitting a proposal to the DfT in February this year, in a bid to win part of the £7 million capital funding allocated by the Government for the 2018-19 Cycle City Ambition Safety programme. What is a Dutch-style roundabout?
The Dutch-style roundabout design for Fendon Road in Cambridge will seek to improve safety for cyclists and pedestrians in a number of ways. One of the key elements is a change in carriageway width, designed to influence slower approach and departure speeds, thereby reducing the speed of drivers. Larger or longer vehicles have to partially use an overunnable strip in the centre of the road, which causes these drivers in particular to travel very slowly through the junction. With speeds reduced, any accidents that do occur are likely to be of much lower severity. Pedestrians will be provided with zebra crossings on each of the four roundabout entry/exit arms, and cyclists will be given their own cycle path, in contrasting red tarmac, to give them equal priority with pedestrians over each arm. 70 people have died on WA roads since January this year. That's 17 more than the WA Government's own strategy target and 38 more than what could be achieved through best practice.
In March 2009 the WA Government set itself a target of reducing the number of people killed and seriously injured on WA roads by "a reduction of up to 40 per cent on the average number of people killed and seriously injured each year between 2005 and 2007." This target was included in the 'Towards Zero Strategy'. The Towards Zero Strategy target is well below best practice rates achieved in western countries but is seen as a positive step in reducing road trauma in WA. Sadly, we are missing both targets and WA continues to experience one of the worst road safety records in Australia. To achieve a significant change we need a significant change in how we tackle the issue. We can't keep blaming drivers. We must adopt and implement the same strategies that have been implemented by those countries with an excellent road safety record. Blaming drivers and the different road environments in Australia is an excuse, not a strategy. The Federal Government and the WA Government have adopted the best practice "Safe System" principle. We need to implement this to stop more deaths in a month on WA roads than by sharks in 10 years off the WA coast. EA Matters May 2018 Case Study
Recently the Chair and members of the Transport Australia Society WA committee wrote to the Road Safety Commissioner about how to improve road safety for the community. As a result of the letter EA representatives (including David Wilkins from i3 consultants WA) met with WA’s road safety commissioner, Iain Cameron, as well as representatives from his office and Main Roads WA. As a result, the commissioner is keen to work with Engineers Australia to develop the next road safety strategy for the State. It was particularly pleasing to hear the commissioner saying how vital it is that the road safety engineering leadership voice is heard and that engineering leadership is critical for the paradigm shift to a safe system. There were 23 reported road deaths in WA in 2018 as at 1st March. This is 7 more than were reported in 2010. If we had the same fatality rate as the best performing European Countries there would have been 10 less deaths and scores of less serious injuries on our roads.
We need those in charge to say enough is enough and commit to implementing significant changes. Road Safety Minister says she is "absolutely committed"
Road Safety Commissioner blames "ambitious target". There were 13 reported road deaths in WA as at 31st January 2018. This is more than were reported in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015. If we had the same fatality rate as the best performing European Countries there would have been 7 road deaths.
We need our politicians to say enough is enough and commit to implementing significant changes. Last week I posted data showing how WA and Australia compares against European Countries in terms of fatal crashes per million people.
Above is a graph showing how Australia compared with 52 Countries in terms of the reduction in Fatalities per 100,000 people from that recorded in 1994 and 2015. I have added WA data to this showing 2015, 2016 and 2017 reductions. There have been many comments regarding the use and relevance of using crash rates per population numbers with suggestions that I should be using crash rates per million vehicle km's travelled. Ideally crash rates for all Countries should be published in three different standard formats (per population, per km's travelled and per licensed vehicles for example). The reality is that each Country, and even some states, calculate million vehicle kms travelled differently with most based on a combination of the number of vehicles and the amount of fuel sold. The only consistent crash rates that I have been able to find is per 100,000 or million people. But all of this distracts from the stark reality that WA has a shocking road safety record regardless of how you look at it. To bring about a significant change in this we need a significant change in how we are tackling it. Below is a map of road deaths per million inhabitants in Europe in 2016. Can you guess the rate for Australia? In Australia it is 54. In Western Australia it is 79.
That puts us on par with Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia, Greece and Bulgaria. If Australia had the political will to bring the rate down to less than 30 that would save 725 lives every year in Australia (and 75 in WA). It would also reduce serious injury crashes by around 6,000 every year in Australia. Is it too much to ask just one politician in Australia to respond and make this his or her mission for 2018? If you know one - please send them this link. There is a wealth of experience and expertise in the engineering and other professions to help achieve this target. We just need the right environment and culture to work in. |
AuthorDavid Wilkins, Principal & Senior Traffic Engineer. Archives
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