AusRAP Star Ratings for the Australian National Network

AusRAP, or the Australian Road Assessment Program, produces maps showing the risk of road
crashes that cause deaths and life-threatening injuries and rates roads for safety. It highlights
improvements that could be made to roads to reduce the likelihood of crashes?and to make those
that do happen survivable.

AusRAP has two standard protocols: risk mapping, and star ratings using a Road Protection Score
(RPS). In 2004 and 2005, AusRAP published colour coded ?risk maps? which draw on traffic
flow and crash data to show the relative road safety performance of the AusLink National
Network. This paper focuses on the second AusRAP protocol, star ratings using the RPS.

The RPS is an innovative approach to assessing the inherent safety of a road. It involves a ?drive
through? inspection in specially equipped vehicles that capture video images of the roads. From
this information, inspectors assess each road and assign star ratings based on major safety
features and hazards. The star ratings, which have been developed by the Australian automobile
clubs in partnership with the ARRB group, draw extensively on the research underpinning
ARRB?s Road Safety Risk Manager.

This paper describes the star rating methodology in some detail and presents the selected results
of the first major application of the methodology to the open highway lengths of the AusLink
National Network.