100km/h Speed: Very Different Safety for Different Roads

Safe System Solutions put one of their iRAP Accredited young gun engineers to work last week to Star Rate various roads with 100km/h speed limits – to goal to show the stark impact of speed on the ‘in built’ safety of roads.

Principal Engineer Kenn Beer shared to story on LinkedIn:

Earlier this week I was chatting with one of our young gun engineers. By chatting, I mean he innocently asked a question and somehow found himself in an impromptu lecture on speed limits and speed management. Occupational hazard, I guess.

One of the points I made was the ridiculous nature of our default 100km/h rural speed limit. One number. Applied to wildly different roads. Completely different risk profiles. Completely different levels of protection.

As a reward for listening to me, I gave him some homework. I asked him to AusRAP Star Rate a series of roads that all carry a 100km/h speed limit.

He is iRAP accredited to conduct AusRAP Star Ratings, so this was the perfect opportunity. And just as I expected, he did a beautiful job (see his output below).

Same speed limit. Very different star ratings. All legally 100km/h.

If the infrastructure only provides 1 or 2-star safety, why are we letting it stay at 100km/h?

Thank you Safe System Solutions for sharing these insightful graphics! ⬇️