As outlined in the National Road Safety Strategy 2011–2020 (under ‘Making it happen’) and consistent with the first pillar of the Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011–2020, the cornerstone interventions must be supported by a series of management functions focused on achieving results.
While there are many other actors influencing road safety, accountability for management systems rests with governments. Government responsibilities for road safety program delivery are spread across all levels and multiple jurisdictions and are shared among different agencies within jurisdictions. To achieve the best road safety outcome, each jurisdiction needs to have an overall management framework, with a clear focus on results.
From a management perspective, the National Road Safety Strategy provides the overarching direction and facilitates the priority aspects of integration across jurisdictions and disciplines, as well as integration across the Safe System cornerstones. The individual states and territories also maintain their own comprehensive road safety strategies, and on behalf of all local governments, the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) publishes a road safety policy statement.
It is important to measure performance across the system. In addition to the established Safety Performance Indicators, in this Action Plan, aspects of national performance management are integrated into many of the actions. As input to the next national strategy development cycle, this stronger focus on system-wide measures of performance will allow for more effective assessment to better understand the causes of crashes and effects of treatments. This is consistent with standard risk management methodologies. Examples of system measures integrated as part of this plan are corridor AusRAP star ratings, number of ANCAP 5-star rated vehicles, reduced speed limit coverage, and speed camera coverage across the network.
Road safety has close links with many other stakeholders. The NRSS and this Action Plan identify collaboration on priority topics between governments, levels of government, within and across Austroads specialists, with police and health agencies, regulators, workplace health and safety agencies, industry groups, researchers, vehicle manufacturers and technology providers such as telecommunications and drug equipment.
Ongoing collaboration with key stakeholders is to be an integral part of the implementation of this Action Plan and will also inform the development of the national strategic approach to improving road safety from 2021 onwards. Along with road authority research and implementation experiences, targeted and comprehensive Austroads research programs, and industry research, the annual Australasian Road Safety Conference will continue to be supported as the premier knowledge sharing and learning event for road safety in Australia.