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Western NSW roads becoming more dangerous: Ausrap report


Western NSW roads becoming more dangerous: Ausrap report

Author: Cie'Jai LegettDate: 19 January 2012

Great Western and Mitchell continue to be rated high risk while the Newell Highway has become one of the safest NSW highways on the national network 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 39 people lost their lives on the Great Western and Mitchell Highways for the period 2005-09. More than 1,000 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;
  • The Newell was one of the safest NSW Highway on the national network. It was responsible for ten per cent of deaths in NSW despite accounting for 27 per cent of the state’s national network.

NRMA Motoring & Services Director Graham Blight said the report clearly illustrated the lack of funding for western NSW highways over the past decade.

“On the whole, good roads are becoming average and bad roads are becoming worse,” Mr Blight said.

“The report is not all doom and gloom though. The Newell Highway has seen a reduction in risk in many sections despite minimal infrastructure investment.

“The Hume Highway is a good example of the investment required to help reduce casualty crashes and deaths. The numbers have dropped significantly in sections where the highway has been duplicated.

“We need funding commitments from both the NSW and Australian Governments to improve the quality of western NSW roads on the national network.”

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.

Highways rated in NSW

 

*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.

Read the full report

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