An AusRAP National Webinar held on 23 November marked the transition of leadership of the Australian Road Assessment Programme from the Australian Automobile Association (AAA) to Austroads, celebrating 20 years of success and shared new opportunities for direction and partnerships to eliminate high-risk roads in the country.

The Australian Road Assessment Program (AusRAP) was introduced to Australia by state mobility clubs, with the AAA providing leadership in partnership with Austroads, Australian Road Research Board (ARRB) and the International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP). The AusRAP partnership has worked together in conjunction with state, territory and local governments on infrastructure safety investment optimisation and measurement since 2001. Recognising the extensive use of the AusRAP protocols and systems at an institutional level by road agencies across Australia, leadership of AusRAP is now transitioning to Austroads.

The Austroads-led AusRAP Programme will build on an extensive platform of local experience and application by state and local government agencies, mobility clubs, Austroads and ARRB as an iRAP Centre of Excellence. In total over 300,000 km of AusRAP star rating and investment planning assessments have been completed, over 40,000 km of risk mapping and over 400 km of road designs have been star rated in Australia. The partnership will continue to benefit from, and contribute to, the global iRAP partnerships that are in place in over 100 countries worldwide.

This webinar kick-started a new era of activity for AusRAP and covered:

• New leadership, governance and collaboration for AusRAP
• Global directions and learnings from the UK
• Exciting developments in Australia
• Next steps for AusRAP

The webinar was presented by:

• Michael Nieuwesteeg – Austroads Road Safety & Design Program Manager.
• Rob McInerney – CEO of iRAP, supporting RAP partnerships in over 100 countries worldwide.
• James Bradford – Global Technical Director for iRAP, EuroRAP and the Road Safety Foundation based in the UK.
• John Hardwick, Executive Director of the Asset Management Branch at Transport for NSW.

See some highlights below

More than 300,000km have been assessed for road safety in Australia’s AusRAP programme. High-risk roads are being eliminated across the country. Congratulations to all partners! We can’t wait to see next developments under new Austroads leadership.

iRAP CEO Rob McInerney – ‘3-star or better road infrastructure saves lives. We must finance and celebrate safe road design and safety upgrades one by one in Australia and across the world.’

James Bradford from iRAP – Sharing UK Road Safety learnings with Australia, after the UK’s Safer Roads Fund recently received the Prince Michael International Road Safety Award for excellence.