Transcript

Did you know over half of the lives lost on our roads occur in regional or rural areas?

Let's explore the road safety features being rolled out on high speed rural roads in Victoria like this.

Safe roads

Safe roads in regional and rural areas

Over half of the lives lost on Victoria's roads occur in regional and rural areas.

Select each marker to see how road safety features are helping to improve the safety of rural roads.

Flexible safety barriers

Flexible safety barriers prevent your car from running off the road or into oncoming traffic. Because the barrier is flexible, it absorbs the energy from a crash, reducing the impact to the human body and allowing the vehicle to come to a gradual standstill.

Flexible safety barriers are being installed on high-speed, high risk roads across Victoria, like the Hume Freeway.  

Wider lane separation lines provides greater visibility for lane delineation and a greater space between opposing traffic lanes to reduce occurrence of head-on collisions.

Sealed road shoulder

Sealed road shoulders provide a better surface to drive on when a vehicle leaves the road, especially at high speeds, stopping and/or steering back into the traffic lane. It is easier if the tyres can grip a sealed road shoulder, rather than trying to find traction on loose gravel.

These upgrades are often combined with improvements to line marking and rumble strips to help reduce the risk of serious crashers.

Recent analysis shows that 60% of fatal crashes on high speed country roads involve a vehicle crossing the centre line or running off the road.