14 April 2008
A Monash University study has found a four-year $240 million program aimed at fixing accident black spots on Victorian roads will prevent 200 deaths and 3,000 serious injuries.
Researchers from the Monash University Accident Research Centre (MUARC) analysed the impact of safety measures implemented at 800 accident-prone Victorian roads and intersections during the Statewide Accident Black Spot Program from 2000 to 2004 and found that many of the safety measures will be highly successful.
MUARC researchers predict that from 2000 until about 2020, serious and fatal road crashes at the black spots will be reduced by 35 per cent and crashes involving minor injuries reduced by 30 per cent.
Installation of roundabouts and staggered T-intersections will be among the most effective measures, with both reducing serious and fatal crashes by more than 80 per cent.
It is predicted that serious and fatal crashes will be reduced by more than40 per cent at rural black spots and by 30 per cent at metropolitan black spots.
The crash reductions mean that more than 200 road deaths, 3,100 serious injuries and 8,500 other injuries will be avoided, providing crash savings of $494 million.
The findings of the black spot program study will be among the cutting-edge research presented on Monday April 14 and Tuesday April 15 at a world intersection safety workshop hosted by MUARC.
The workshop will also feature presentations by intersection specialists from Sweden, Austria, Brazil, China, Japan, Canada, Bangladesh, Croatia and Greece. (A full program is included with this release).
MUARC researcher Dr Bruce Corben will also make a presentation. Dr Corben will provide an overview of a $2 million, three-year intersection safety project, supported by VicRoads and the Transport Accident Commission (TAC), that is about to start.
MUARC researcher Dr Jeffery Archer said about half of all serious crashes and more than a quarter of fatal crashes in Victoria occurred at intersections and improving intersection safety could lower Victoria's road toll substantially.
"I am sure that bringing international intersection researchers together in Melbourne will generate significant benefits to Victoria's road safety," Dr Archer said.
The workshop's keynote speaker will be TAC General Manager of Road Safety, David Healy. World-renowned road safety expert Christer Hyden, from the Lund Institute of Technology in Sweden, will also speak at the workshop.
For interviews with MUARC researchers, or to attend the workshop, please contact Colin Vickery, Media Officer, MUARC, on 0419 302 520.
For a copy of MUARC's black spot program study, contact Monash media officer Ryan Pedler on (03) 9903 4842 or 0417 568 781.
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