Annual Report 2006 (main body) - RTA - NSW Government

ensure a consistent design appearance for
the entire route between the Warringah
Expressway and Spit Road.
UPGRADES
Pacific and Princes Highway upgrades
Road safety has been improved on the
Pacific and Princes Highway with a number
of innovative road safety treatments.
26 metre B-doubles have been required to meet new safety standards since November 2005.
Fatalities on the Pacific Highway have
decreased for several sections including
north of Hexham to the Queensland border.
models with corresponding aggressivity
ratings for 284 (93 per cent) of these vehicles.
HEAVY VEHICLE INITIATIVES
26m B-doubles
A new heavy vehicle configuration of 26
metre B-doubles was approved for operation
in NSW from November 2005. Vehicles
permitted under this scheme are required
to meet important new safety standards.
Heavy vehicle inspection scheme
The RTA operates a Heavy Vehicle
Inspection Scheme (HVIS) that conducts
periodic inspections on heavy vehicles
and buses used as public passenger
vehicles. Almost 90,000 vehicles’ annual
registration inspections were conducted
across the State at a variety of sites.
In November 2005, a new compliance
safeguard was introduced which can
suspend or cancel the registration of a
vehicle which has not undertaken an HVIS
inspection.The RTA has also completed an
upgrade program across RTA inspection
sites by replacing roller brake, suspension
and pit-jack equipment.
State Transit Authority buses were included
in the HVIS progressively from April 2006.
Vehicle selection matrix
A trial of a Vehicle Selection Matrix (VSM)
commenced in February 2006 with the
VSM rollout scheduled for later in 2006.The
VSM strengthens the RTA’s existing riskbased
screening system for managing heavy
vehicle intercepts at automated Heavy
Vehicle Checking Stations. VSM improves
the intercept rate of high risk vehicles,
manages the checking station vehicle queue
and uses a screening tool to intercept
vehicles with poor compliance history.
SAFER ROADS
ROAD CONDITION
Crash related treatments
A total of $33.2 million in state funds was
spent in 2005–06 to undertake remedial
treatments to 193 high crash risk locations.
Work by the RTA included intersection
improvements, road realignments, clear zone
enhancements and safety barrier installation.
The Australian Government’s AusLink Black
Spot Program, administered by the RTA,
constructed a further 116 new crash
reduction projects with total federal funding
of over $14.2 million.
Pedestrian areas
In 2005–06, 40 km/h schemes were installed
or upgraded in 12 pedestrian areas. These
included installing traffic calming, safe and
convenient pedestrian crossings as well as
40 km/h signs.
The RTA installed pedestrian fences at new
locations along Military Road, Cremorne to
On the Princes Highway from Yallah to the
Victorian border fatalities have halved from
24 in 2004 to 12 in 2005 with seven fewer
from January to June 2006 than in the
same period in 2005.
Railway level crossing upgrades
In 2005–06, eight major railway level
crossing upgrades were undertaken in
NSW as part of the Railway Level Crossing
Safety Upgrade Program. These major
improvements included converting sites
from passive to active traffic control by
using lights, bells and boom gates.
At 70 sites across NSW signal lamps were
upgraded with LED and non-frangible
objects were removed. Minor road
ROAD DESIGN
GUIDE
The RTA has further integrated road
safety into the road maintenance
program with a new ‘brownfields’
design guide. The guide will provide
maintenance engineers with interim
maintenance standards that can be
retrofitted to existing roads. The
document took advantage of recent
crash research to develop road design
innovations and new interim clear
zone widths.
POSITIVE ROAD SAFETY OUTCOMES 39