Developing an optimised safety management philosophy reflecting the Safe System in a constrained environment

A key feature of Safer Journeys, the New Zealand Governments guiding document for road safety over the next decade, is the introduction of the Safe System and consequent focus on reducing death and serious injury. The relatively rare nature of high severity crashes, those resulting in death or serious injury, combined with the increasing pressure on both maintenance and improvement funding has resulted in a need to reassess how safety is managed on the New Zealand State Highway Network. This paper looks at how the NZ Transport Agency has combined data and assessments from the New Zealand Road Assessment Programme (KiwiRAP), with level of service criteria, and both proactive and reactive risk assessment to determine the optimal road safety management/treatment philosophy for road corridors.