Page 2958 - Week 07 - Thursday, 30 June 2011
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makes allowance for human error and recognises that there are limits to the forces humans can withstand in a crash. An essential element of the safe system approach is the design of roads and vehicles to reduce the risk of crashes and to reduce the harm to people if a crash does happen. Speed management is also a critical factor in limiting the impact energy of crashes to survivable levels.
The national road safety strategy 2011-20, or NRSS, which was released on 20 May this year, notes the importance of jurisdictions developing and implementing best practice speed enforcement measures, including a combination of on-road policing and safety camera technologies, with a mix of covert and overt strategies. An action item in the strategy is for jurisdictions to install, where appropriate, point-to-point cameras to improve speed compliance among all vehicles.
The use of point-to-point cameras is strongly supported by the National Road Safety Council, which is a body established by the Australian Transport Council to facilitate the implementation of national road safety reforms. Accordingly, the ACT’s introduction of point-to-point cameras, as one speed management measure under the ACT road safety strategy, is completely in line with the safe system approach and best practice speed enforcement practices.
The ACT safety camera program has been in place since 1999. It currently consists of fixed red light speed cameras at signal-controlled intersections, fixed speed cameras at mid-block locations on major highways, and mobile camera vans that can operate at 177 prescribed sites. While fixed speed cameras usefully monitor speeds at a particular location, it is recognised that some motorists will speed up again after passing through the camera location.
A forward design study for introducing point-to-point cameras in the ACT was publicly released in September 2010. This design study confirmed that point-to-point camera systems are effective in reducing the number and severity of crashes and are able to improve speed compliance within the enforced area. This is despite infringement rates at point-to-point camera sites typically being low.
The design study lists a number of case studies in the UK where annual average killed and serious injury accident rates have reduced by between 37 and 85 per cent with the use of point-to-point cameras. The scope of work for the design study also covered the development of a program of works for the implementation of point-to-point cameras in the ACT, including the identification of sites and cost-benefit analysis.
The design study identified 10 potential sites for the introduction of point to point and assessed them against a range of traffic and safety-related criteria. Traffic criteria were the number of intersections, traffic volumes and incidence of speeding. Safety criteria were annual casualty crashes per kilometre, annual crashes per kilometre, whether the site was already a fixed or mobile camera site and an assessment of any identified safety risks.
Based on an equal weighting of traffic and safety criteria, Hindmarsh Drive and Gungahlin Drive were identified as the most suitable sites for the first installations. These sites scored highly across both traffic and safety criteria, and would remain high priority sites if assessed using the safety criteria alone.
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