THE Transport Accident Commission's chief executive admits the government needs to be better at planning and delivering road safety projects but insists road safety barriers are a life-saving investment.
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It comes after a scathing audit report was released about the state government's rollout of road safety infrastructure, including flexible road barriers, which highlighted that the rollout was poorly planned, would therefore be more costly than anticipated and that overall the barriers were less effective than originally purported. Their effectiveness has also been diminished by a lack of maintenance.
The audit, conducted by the Victorian Auditor General's office, analysed the effectiveness of the rollout of road safety treatments - including flexible barriers, wide centrelines and rumble strips - to some of Victoria's highest risk regional roads.
The installation of the road safety treatments has been a part of the TAC's Towards Zero Strategy and Action Plan 2016-2020. During the five-year period, the aim of the strategy has been to reduce deaths on the state's roads to less than 200 and the number of serious injuries by 15 per cent.
Through the strategy, VicRoads was funded to deliver 27 road safety projects to 20 of Victoria's highest risk regional roads. It is known as the Top 20 program.
An integral part of the strategy was installing flexible road barriers. Within the road safety strategy, it is stated that flexible barriers can reduce fatalities and serious injuries from run-off road and head on crashes by up to 85 per cent.
The audit analysed the effectiveness of the road safety treatments in 18 of the 21 completed projects and found the projections the government used to be inflated.
Contrary to the government projections, the audit found the flexible barriers and other road safety treatments had only reduced fatalities and serious injuries on the treated sections of road by 46.5 per cent.
The report said this is below the individual crash reduction factors VicRoads set for 17 of the 18 completed projects, and if the results persist then the projects will not achieve the expected benefits.
The 85 per cent statistic was based on research commissioned from the Monash University Accident Research Centre (MUARC).
This research found that 11 of the roads it tested with flexible barriers led to a 56 per cent overall reduction in serious run off road crashes, while two roads had a reduction of 87 and 83 per cent - which was used as the basis for the data in the strategy.
The report said VicRoads should not have relied on these results and rather should have used the more "statistically robust" overall result of a 56 per cent reduction within the strategy..
TAC executive Joe Calafiore said that the TAC accepted all of the recommendations within the report but disagreed with the auditor general's assessment of the road barrier benefits.
There is no doubt we collectively have to do a better job at planning, delivering and squeezing value for money ... but in terms of road safety benefit, it is saving countless lives and will continue to save lives now that the infrastructure is in place.
- Joe Calafiore
"There is no doubt we collectively have to do a better job at planning, delivering and squeezing value for money ... but in terms of road safety benefit, it is saving countless lives and will continue to save lives now that the infrastructure is in place," he said.
Mr Calafiore said the TAC worked closely with road safety experts and its data collated from roads with the barriers installed for five years found that the crash reduction was as high as 87 per cent.
Roads including the Princes Freeway West, Princes Freeway East and the Bass Highway which would normally average up to 10 catastrophic injuries a year have been reduced to between 0 or 1 serious accidents a year since the installation of the barriers.
That is a reduction from an average 219 days in hospital, to 3-4.
Further, the auditor general found that VicRoads did not sufficiently plan the flexible barrier installation projects within the program and as a result is likely to spend at least 22 per cent more than in the original budget.
"Additionally, it has failed to properly maintain and monitor the barriers it installed, which increases the risk that they will not perform as intended," the report reads.
The audit also states VicRoads did not keep adequate records.
A government spokesperson said it accepted the findings of the report and had already implemented some changes as per the recommendations.
