Knowing Where to Start: The New Zealand Approach to Developing Road Safety Infrastructure Programmes

Identifying locations that have the potential to yield significant reductions in road trauma is the first and most critical aspect in developing road safety investment programmes (RSIP). The New Zealand Transport Agency has developed a strategic approach to identifying high-benefit opportunities that moves away from a focus on sites with High Collective Risk alone. This strategic approach helps avoid a perennial problem of identifying locations with an apparent safety problem, but little potential for improvement without transformational change. Analysis indicate the approach is a more reliable way to develop RSIP and to realise the benefits they are designed to achieve.