Improving road safety guidance across Australasia
Austroads, the association of Australian and New Zealand transport agencies, provides practical, impartial advice, information, tools and services to help its members deliver efficient, reliable and safe mobility.
Abley has worked with Austroads for more than 10 years to develop fit-for-purpose road safety guidance that responds to contemporary challenges and opportunities. Our focus is on ensuring that guidance is practical and usable for state and local governments.
Developing practical, evidence-based guidance
Abley brings together technical road safety expertise, an understanding of state and local government policy and practical delivery experience. This includes an understanding of the challenges faced by local governments, particularly those managing lower-volume networks and constrained budgets.
Our approach combines research with practical tools and frameworks that agencies can apply in real-world settings. Over the past decade, Abley has authored and updated more than 20 Austroads publications.
These include Guide to Road Safety Part 2: Safe Roads, which provides guidance on the role infrastructure plays within the Safe System and the selection and implementation of infrastructure treatments to reduce road trauma.
Abley has also contributed to Austroads’ Local Government Road Safety Management Guidance, which provides councils with a structured approach to managing safety across the road networks they are responsible for, tailored to their operating context.
Another example is Road Risk Assessment, Case Studies and Engagement Guidance for Speed Management, which introduced Infrastructure Risk Rating (IRR), a simple methodology for assessing road safety risk at a network level and informing speed management decisions.
Moving from reactive to system-wide safety planning
Abley develops scalable, data-led frameworks that support better road safety decisions. By integrating crash, network and spatial data with contemporary road safety principles, we help transport agencies identify risk and prioritise investment across their networks.
This supports a shift away from reactive, one-off black spot treatments towards proactive, whole-of-network safety planning. With clearer visibility of risk, agencies can identify high-risk locations, prioritise interventions and develop stronger business cases for investment.
For local governments with constrained resources and diverse road environments, this provides a more structured way to apply contemporary, evidence-based approaches to road safety.
Supporting safer and more inclusive streets
Abley also works with state and local governments to support safer and more inclusive streets for communities and vulnerable road users.
By considering equity and accessibility within risk assessment, jurisdictions can better identify and address risks that may be overlooked by traditional approaches. This can include improving safety for older adults, children and people with disabilities, supporting walking and cycling and identifying risk in low-volume or underserved areas.
Through its work with Austroads, Abley helps turn contemporary road safety research and evidence into practical guidance that agencies can apply across Australia and New Zealand.
Abley’s road safety engineers, data scientists and GIS specialists bring together technical expertise and practical delivery experience to develop guidance, frameworks and tools that support better road safety decision-making. Contact Paul to discuss how Abley can support your organisation.
Get in touch
If you’ve got a question or want to chat to us about how we can help you, contact us.
We look forward to talking with you.