When a road network has been Star Rated, the Star Rating model allows us to estimate the benefit of numerous network-wide treatments. For example modelled scenarios might include the impact of the following on Star Ratings and, importantly for business cases, the impact of:
- Expected deaths and serious injuries
- Improving road condition and delineation to adequate across the road network – modelling the impact of maintenance-type countermeasures on road safety
- Replacing ramped end vehicle restraint system terminals with passively safe terminals
- Raised profile markings on roads where they are currently absent
- Changing the speed limit on all rural single carriageway roads
- Adding central hatching to all single carriageway roads to reduce head on risk
- Adding crossing facilities for pedestrians where crossing is likely.
The opportunities for modelling mass actions at the network level are vast and this can help to identify opportunities to optimise the impact of various programmes on road safety, for example maximising the casualty reduction potential of routine road maintenance activities. Analysis of this type helps to prioritise cost-effective road safety treatments that can be made across a road network, rather than simply at historic crash locations. This approach enables road authorities to substantially reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries on their road network in the medium-long term.
