Road Safety Program

The Australian Government's commitment to improving road safety and reducing the risk of fatal and serious injury road crashes is outlined in the National Road Safety Strategy 2021–30 PDF: 7.9 MB and the National Road Safety Action Plan 2023–25. These plans set the vision, targets and priorities for road safety in Australia.

The Road Safety Program (the Program) was announced in October 2020 as part of the response to the economic and social impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Program provides funding for road safety improvements across Australia, and is one of the key initiatives that supports the government's road safety commitment.

Through the October 2022–23 Budget, the government agreed to redesign and extend the Program by 2 years until 30 June 2025. The redesign focused on addressing challenges and lessons learnt through the first 3 tranches.

The redesigned Program

• provides over $976 million from 2023–24 to 2024–25 to support works under 4 key streams: regional roads, remote roads, urban roads, and footpaths and cycleways.
• aims to support the roll out of lifesaving road safety measures and provide greater protection for vulnerable road users like cyclists and pedestrians.

These road safety treatments include shoulder sealing, protection from road side hazards, rumble strips, safety barriers and median changes to prevent single run off road and head on crashes.

Under the redesign, Program funding is available from July 2023 with the Program scheduled to terminate on 30 June 2025. The Program is open to proposals from state and territory governments (excluding external territories), which will be assessed against program objectives. States and territories are required to match Australian Government funding contributions.

Find out more about the redesigned Program Guidelines PDF 371 KB.

Achievements under Road Safety Program 2020–23

The first 3 tranches of the Program were delivered as a stimulus program in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It supported the fast rollout of lifesaving road safety treatments, and projects were to be delivered within 6 months.

The Australian Government committed over $2 billion in funding, and states and territories delivered vital road improvements and upgrades to approximately 14,000 km of Australia's road network.

This table shows the number of road safety projects approved during 2020–23 across each of the states and territories.