The Safer Roads program
We’re making Victorian roads safer with new technology and safety infrastructure that helps save lives.
In partnership with the TAC, we’re investing $1.4 billion into road safety infrastructure to work towards a future where no one is seriously injured or killed on our roads.
Mistakes happen, which as humans we can’t always avoid. What we can do is build a more forgiving environment through infrastructure, so that when a mistake happens on the road, it doesn’t cost a life.
We’re continuing to tackle the biggest risks on Victorian roads – lane departure crashes on high-speed roads, side impact crashes at intersections and collisions involving pedestrians and cyclists.
We’re rolling out road safety infrastructure across the state. Some of these include: flexible safety barriers, intersection improvements, and upgrades for cyclists and pedestrians to prevent and reduce the severity of what were the most common collisions in 2015.
It is this life-saving infrastructure that is helping more people get home safely.
The Safer Roads program is saving lives
We know that the road infrastructure we’ve been delivering is helping to reduce road trauma in Victoria. Flexible safety barriers have been hit more than 5,400 times from 2016 to December 2019 on the first 20 high-risk roads that we upgraded - each time potentially saving lives or preventing serious injuries.
From January 2016 until December 2019, we’ve seen:
- a 55% reduction in reported crashes
- a 15% reduction in fatal crashes
- a 65% reduction in fatal and serious injury crashes.
During this time, the total number of deaths and serious injuries caused by head-on and run-off-road crashes has dropped by 66% on these roads – from 120 people in 2015 to 41 people in 2019.
Hear what our partners have to say about the impact that flexible safety barriers are having.
The Hume Freeway, previously one of Victoria’s high-risk roads, demonstrates just how effective flexible safety barriers are at preventing road trauma.
In October 2019, we finished widening the road shoulders and installing centreline and left-hand side flexible safety barriers along the entire length of the Hume Freeway from the M80 Ring Road to the New South Wales border.
Since we began upgrading the Hume Freeway and Highway in November 2016, the number of fatalities and serious injuries have dropped by 56% from 2016 to December 2019. There were also no lives lost on the Hume Freeway in 2019.
The Safe System
Safer roads help to protect people when the unexpected happens – but road infrastructure is only one part of the solution.
The Safer Roads program is underpinned by the Safe System, a holistic approach to reducing road trauma that recognises that we as humans are vulnerable and make mistakes that shouldn’t cost us our lives.
The Safe System identifies four factors that work together to protect people from being killed or seriously injured on the road: Safer Roads, Safer Vehicles, Safer Speeds and Safer People.
The human body can only tolerate certain amounts of force, so by implementing safer speeds we can dramatically improve our chances of survival and avoid serious injuries when crashes occur. Advances in vehicle technology help prevent road crashes and protect people if a crash does occur. If more people drove safer vehicles, then road trauma would be significantly reduced. We all need to acknowledge that being safer people when travelling on roads is key to reducing road trauma. Following the road rules, remaining alert and avoiding distractions can be the difference between arriving home to our families or not.
Road safety is a shared responsibility. This means that we need to be safer drivers, be driving safer cars, be travelling at safer speeds on safer roads. If we all play our part, zero people seriously injured and killed on our roads can be achieved in our lifetime.
Meet your Safety Director
Scott Lawrence, Director - Safer Roads program
Scott has worked and lived in Country Victoria for over 20 years.
Beginning his career as a civil engineer, Scott has worked in every region of Victoria; planning, operating and maintaining our roads.
Scott is passionate about shaping road infrastructure that makes a real difference to the lives of Victorians, connecting them safely to what’s important.
In his spare time, Scott enjoys photography and supporting the Melbourne Demons.
Scott’s positive outlook on life motivates him to inspire those around him with his vision to achieve real change in how we live and connect in Victoria.
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