Austroads: Transport Research and Trends

Head-on crashes are a serious issue in Australia and New Zealand. Head-on crashes result in significantly higher trauma than most other crash types. The provision of an appropriate median or centreline treatment is important to mitigate the risk of head-on crashes.

In this webinar, Dr Rod Troutbeck, Jade Hogan and Jamie Robertson described the range of improvements from supportive treatments like pavement markings and audio-tactile line markings through to the use of flexible barriers in narrow medians as a primary treatment. The discussion and guidance centre on rural two-lane roads but also applicable to all roads. The recommended practices are based on both literature and case studies. 

The presenters introduced the crash modification factors developed for the hierarchy of approaches to address head-on crashes and the case studies that support these factors. The optimum solution is to provide a median barrier, however other treatments may be appropriate in certain circumstances depending on considerations including road function, space or resource constraints, and access requirements. The designer should start with the option that has the greatest Safe System alignment. It will need to be demonstrated that this option is not feasible before investigating and selecting an option with lower Safe System alignment are prioritised and other alternatives must be given lower emphasis.

The presenters discussed the implications for road designers including the treatment’s applicability, effectiveness and dimensions. The maintenance considerations and implications for other road users, including sight distance requirements were also discussed. 

By applying road safety knowledge to road projects throughout their lifecycle, road safety audits provide greater confidence to road authorities that potential and actual road safety risks are identified and can be mitigated.

Road safety auditors are currently managed individually by state and territory road agencies, leading to variability in training, accreditation, registration, and continuing professional development requirements across Australia and New Zealand.

Austroads members are committed to improving the consistency and quality of road safety audit practices across Australia and New Zealand and have agreed to implement a national framework to manage road safety auditors and road safety audit training providers. 

This webinar provided an overview of the national harmonisation project, including why it is needed, the anticipated benefits, what the national framework will look like, as well as project deliverables and timelines.

The webinar was presented by Michael Nieuwesteeg, Chris Koniditsiotis, Andrew Lee and Kellie Houlahan.

There were question and answer opportunities during the session.

The implementation of the National Roadmap on Driver Distraction is a commitment under Australia’s National Road Safety Strategy 2021-2030. Austroads has released a guide for this work and is preparing two research and development projects for delivery over the next financial year.

The webinar presents the guide, the first projects being prepared, and encourage further discussion and ongoing engagement about this important road safety issue.

This webinar is presented by Matin Nabavi, Mike Regan and Martin Small.

The webinar provides an overview of an Austroads project which provided expert technical input into the revision of three Australian Standard test methods (AS 2341.4, AS 2341.15 and AS 2341.27) and three national specification documents (AS 2008, AS 2157, AS 1160) during the period between September 2022 and August 2024. It also includes the results of a laboratory study which investigated whether consistency at 25 °C tests (AS 2341.25) could be replaced by rotational viscosity at 25 °C tests (AS 2341.4) in the bituminous emulsion specification (AS 1160).

As a longstanding authority in verifying drivers’ licences, Austroads is leading Australia’s development of world class solutions that safely and securely support driver licence verification.

As part of the transformative initiative to harmonise Mobile Drivers Licences (mDL) across all jurisdictions, Austroads is establishing a National Digital Trust Service (DTS) enabling mDLs to be securely verified anywhere, at any time.

The first stage of the project, a pre-production version of the DTS, will be powered by MATTR and deliver DTS capabilities that will have the ability to support multiple types of digital credentials. Based on the MATTR VII platform, the DTS will act as the root of trust for the mDL ecosystem across Australia, ensuring that mDLs can be verified regardless of the issuing jurisdiction or location by relying parties anywhere in the world.

This webinar gave an overview of mDLs and the Austroads DTS, presented by Christopher Goh, Austroads’ National Harmonisation Lead – Digital Identity, and representatives from MATTR – Luke McIntyre, Chief Product Officer, and Tobias Looker, Chief Technical Officer.

This is the final webinar in the three-part webinar series to present the outcomes of the Austroads project “Prioritising Active Transport”.

Presenters Dr Elliot Fishman and Andrew Somers focus on various policies and other non-infrastructure interventions that can be used to increase levels of active travel. These interventions include measures such as speed reduction, policies to integrate public transport with walking and cycling, pricing measures for motor vehicle use and parking and shared micromobility programs.

The session also covers how policy and other non-infrastructure interventions perform in terms of their impact on growing active transport mode share, in comparison to the cost and complexity of implementing these initiatives.

This is the second session in a three-part webinar series to present the outcomes of the Austroads project “Prioritising Active Transport”. This webinar builds on the first webinar by focusing on the types of infrastructure interventions that can be used to increase active transport mode share.

Participants will gain an understanding of the effectiveness of these interventions and their suitability, depending on the geographical context (e.g. inner city, suburban, regional).

The webinar is presented by Dr Elliot Fishman and moderated by Andrew Somers.

This webinar was part one of a three-part webinar series to present the outcomes of the Austroads project 'Prioritising Active Transport'.

A wide range of Australian government agencies have a goal to increase the mode share for walking and cycling. Yet much of the data shows that active transport levels have stagnated over the last 15 years. This webinar presented data on Australian and overseas best-practice measures that can be implemented to grow the contribution of walking and cycling to transport systems across Australasia.

Participants learnt about the different categories of interventions that can be used to increase active transport mode share. They also learnt how a prioritisation framework can be used to select interventions that are the most impactful in boosting walking and cycling mode share, while also considering the cost and complexity of different interventions.

The webinar was presented by Dr Elliot Fishman and moderated by Andrew Somers.

Cities throughout the world are recognising many public spaces are not welcoming or inclusive, particularly for women, girls, gender diverse groups and vulnerable people.

This webinar, presented by Anna Chauvel and Richmond Henty, focuses on Canberra's first Gender Sensitive Urban Design Guidelines. The guidelines will help planners, engineers, architects, landscape designers and developers create urban spaces that reflect the needs, interests, and routines of the city’s diverse community, enriching people’s daily lives.

Developed following over two years of community and stakeholder engagement, the guidelines will aid with the design and delivery of public urban spaces as well as transport and infrastructure projects, including wayfinding. The guidelines are one of the actions to come out of the Second Action Plan 2020-22 of the ACT Women’s Plan.

The guidelines will deliver practical outcomes to the daily lives of women, girls, gender diverse and vulnerable people in Canberra improving their safety, access, mobility, health, and enjoyment in public spaces.

Safety is often the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about transport and city planning from a gender perspective, but feeling safe should be the baseline, not the benchmark when it comes to inclusive cities.

From Barcelona’s Superblocks to women’s cycling rates in Copenhagen, through to building women’s autonomy into the business case, this webinar’s presenter Estelle Grech shares key insights from her Churchill Fellowship where she travelled to 14 cities around the globe to research how to design cities for women in girls.