The safe road system
Road safety can be considered from a systems point of view, with three elements contributing to road safety - the driver, the vehicle and the road itself.
Reasonably objective and accepted measures are currently available to help define what constitutes a safe driver and a safe vehicle. A safe driver is one who is licensed and obeys the law and acts responsibly, with regard for the safety of themselves and others. A safe vehicle is one that rates well under the Australasian New Car Assessment Programme (ANCAP), which crash-tests cars and assigns a star rating out of five - the more stars the safer the vehicle.
KiwiRAP provides a systematic and internationally recognised way of measuring what constitutes a safe road. By giving New Zealand's roads a safety rating, KiwiRAP will be able to communicate the risk of death and injury more meaningfully. It will help drivers understand how risk can vary according to changes in the road environment. A risk-aware driver will be more likely to adapt their driving to reduce their risk of being involved in a crash.
Risk ratings will provide road planners and engineers with vital benchmarking information to show how well, or how poorly, a particular road performs in comparison to other roads.
The Government's Road Safety to 2010 strategy proposed various interventions to develop safer drivers, safer vehicles and safer roads. The strategy forecast that 42 lives a year could be saved through improvements in road engineering. The remainder can be saved through improvements in driver behaviour, vehicles, and current initiatives (efficiency). According to the Government's Road Safety to 2010 strategy. The lives that can be saved by each of these initiatives are shown in the picture below.
Related Links
What do drivers think about road engineering?How can engineering make our roads safer?
What do I do if I'm driving on a riskier stretch of road?