SafetyNET – breathing life into road safety analysis

Road controlling authorities put great effort and expense into collecting large quantities of high-quality transport related data. However, the true value of this data is often unrealised because of the narrow range of applications for which the data is used. Abley Transportation Consultants is adding value to the New Zealand Transport Agency and local government organisations by bringing together a variety of transport datasets and combining it with industry knowledge inside a geospatial environment to improve road safety. This paper describes SafetyNET, an innovative online interactive road safety tool that Abley Transportation Consultants has developed for the New Zealand Transport Agency. SafetyNET allows the New Zealand Transport Agency and its consultants to readily identify those parts of the State Highway network where road safety performance is good or poor compared to national averages, where it is out of character with the expected safety performance, and where it has engineering and operational features that suggest it may be a high risk site in the future. By displaying this information in a spatial manner, users of SafetyNET and funding agencies can effortlessly identify those high risk parts of the State Highway network that warrant attention and target their investigations and investments accordingly. This paper will be of interest to everyone involved with the targeted identification, prioritisation and funding of road safety improvements, and those seeking to unlock the true value of transport datasets.