Frequently Asked Questions.

How many people are killed or injured on Australia's roads?

Across Australia around 1,400 people are killed and more than 32,500 are hospitalised each year. Since record keeping commenced in 1925, there have been over 180,000 deaths on Australia's roads.

Around the world, approximately 1.3 million people die on roads each year and up to 50 million people sustain non-fatal injuries.

How much do road crashes cost Australia?

Road crashes are estimated to cost our community $74 million every day. This is because each day an average of four people die and nearly 90 people are seriously injured on Australian roads.

What is AusRAP?

The Australian Road Assessment Program (AusRAP) provides independent information about how safe Australia's roads are. AusRAP produces maps showing the risk of road crashes that cause deaths and injuries and rates roads for safety. It highlights improvements that could be made to roads to reduce the likelihood of crashes - and to make those that do happen survivable. AusRAP is dedicated to saving lives through advocating for safer road infrastructure.

AusRAP is run by the Australian Automobile Association and its constituent State and Territory automobile clubs.

Are there similar programs anywhere else in the world?

RAP is a global movement with over 60 active programs worldwide run by the International Road Assessment Program and partner countries. AusRAP is a founding program of iRAP and our close ties open the door to a world of best practice and innovative safety improvements internationally. AusRAP is a valued member of the iRAP Board and the Global Technical Committee. As a founding iRAP program, AusRAP is a leader in the iRAP Asia Pacific Region and through our relationship with iRAP and the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), we will continue to assist emerging RAP programs in our region.

What is AusRAPs vision?

AusRAP aspires to help Australia become a nation free of high-risk roads. We will do this by:

• reducing deaths and injuries on Australia's roads by systematically assessing risk and identifying safety shortcomings that can be addressed with practical road-improvement measures; and
• putting risk assessment at the heart of strategic decisions on road improvements, crash protection and standards of road management.

AusRAP's vision is to eliminate two star roads in the short term and three star roads in the longer term on the National Highway Network and strategic state highways. This vision will be achieved through working with governments and government agencies, state club members and the wider community, peak national and state road user groups and the research community to highlight road safety infrastructure issues and potential solutions.

How does AusRAP work?

AusRAP uses four methods - or protocols - for assessing the safety of roads.

The first protocol, Risk Mapping, is based on a road's history of casualty crashes and traffic flow and provides a measure of the safety performance of a road.

AusRAP's second protocol provides a Star Rating, measuring the inherent safety of the road infrastructure - that is, the degree to which it prevents crashes from occurring and reduces the severity of those crashes which do occur. The Star Ratings involve an inspection of a number of design elements such as lane width, shoulder width and the presence of safety barriers, which are known to have an impact on the likelihood of a crash and its severity. Between one and five stars are awarded to sections of roads measuring the level of safety which is 'built-in' to the road.

AusRAP recently introduced two new protocols. The first of these is based on Star Ratings and will provide a measure of the investment required to improve the level of infrastructure safety, known as Safer Road Investment Plans. The second will utilise Risk Maps to benchmark the safety performance of a road over time and is known as Performance Tracking.

What roads does AusRAP rate?

AusRAP currently rates Australia's major freeways and highways, where the speed limit is generally above 90km/h. This network may be expanded over coming years.

What has AusRAP done so far?

Risk Maps have been produced for the National Highway Network, on which road crash fatalities typically account for around 15 per cent of annual road fatalities in Australia.

AusRAP has produced Star Ratings for the National Highway Network and significant lengths of the state highway network in Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia.

What is the National Highway Network?

The National Highway Network forms part of the National Land Transport Network, which is based on national and inter-regional road and rail transport corridors that are of critical importance to national and regional growth.

Where can I find out the results?

Results for risk mapping and star ratings are available on this website.

Why does AusRAP only look at roads? What about cars and drivers?

Most crashes occur when ordinary people make everyday mistakes. By building safer roads, we can reduce the number of crashes, and reduce the severity of those that do occur. AusRAP recognises that we need to work towards a system of five star drivers in five star cars on five star roads. All three need to work together to achieve a safe road system.

AusRAP Risk Maps and Performance Tracking take driver and vehicle safety into account as they use real world crash history for the road network, reflecting that crashes occur for a range of reasons.

The bottom line is that safe drivers in safe cars should not die as a consequence of unsafe roads.

AusRAP is also a sister program to the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP), which crash-tests new cars and awards them stars for safety.

What can I do?

Take part in the Decade of Action for Road Safety by wearing the Road Safety Tag, the global symbol of the movement, to raise awareness of the importance of safety on the roads. The website also has resources you can use to promote the Decade of Action in your community, school or workplace.

You might also like to contact your local road authority or MP to let them know that Australia needs safer roads.