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F3 performs poorly: Ausrap report


F3 performs poorly: Ausrap report

Author: Kimberly RigbyDate: 19 January 2012

Thursday 19 January 2012: The F3 accounted for six per cent of fatalities on NSW highways on the national network despite accounting for just three per cent (105 kms) of the national network in NSW, according to the latest Australian Road Assessment Program (AusRAP) report.

Funded by the Australian Automobile Association, the NRMA and other state motoring clubs, AusRAP found that 21 people lost their lives on the F3 during the period 2005-09. There were 563 crashes that led to serious injury also occurred in the same period.

The report released by the NRMA today, tying in the with the United Nation’s Decade of Action for Road Safety, found that the percentage of NSW highways on the national network rated as a medium-high or high risk increased from 7 to fifteen per cent. This ran against the national average, which saw the risk level fall.

The AusRAP report for the period 2005-09 found:

  • Four people are killed and 90 people are seriously injured on Australia’s roads every day;
  • Road crashes cost the Australian community $74 million every day;

NRMA Motoring & Services Director Kyle Loades said these statistics showed the F3 was still a dangerous road in desperate need of improvement.

“Quite a few sections of the F3 do not have any crash barriers or breakdown lanes so if a vehicle runs off the road there is a big risk of colliding with a sandstone wall,” Mr Loades said.

“If you do have the misfortune of breaking down, there is a real risk that your vehicle may get hit from behind.”

“A funding commitment by both the NSW and Australian Governments to upgrade the F3, would be a relief to millions of drivers who use the link to get to and from the Central Coast and Newcastle.”

AusRAP works in partnership with government and nongovernment organisations to:

  • inspect national and state highways and develop Star Ratings and Safer Roads Investment Plans;
  • track road safety performance through risk maps so that funding agencies can assess the benefits of their investments;
  • and explain the benefits of safer road infrastructure to the community by describing why some roads are safer than others.

AusRAP analyses crash and traffic volume data over two five-year periods (2000-04 and 2005-09) and is based on the European equivalent, EuroRAP, which produces maps showing the risk of road crashes that cause deaths and life-threatening injuries and rates roads for safety.

*Individual risk rating is a measure of the number of casualty crashes per year per 100 million vehicle kilometers travelled. There are five ratings: low, low/medium, medium, medium/high and high.

Report available at: http://www.mynrma.com.au/about/reports-brochures-research.htm

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