Australia has also made a bold move on road safety by publicly publishing the star rating of its major roads which has been hailed as a breakthrough in road safety and transparency. Austroads leads this initiative, and currently provides a national dashboard that shows the safety situation on the busiest highways and major arterial routes in the country. The ratings, which are a part of the Australian Road Assessment Program (AusRAP), can give governments and motorists clear information that can be used to improve and define future safety policies.
| Star Rating | WA Road Example |
|---|---|
| 5 stars | Garratt Road Bridge |
| 4 stars | Tonkin Highway |
| 3 stars | Albany Highway |
| 2 stars | Stirling Highway |
| 1 star | Beeliar Drive |
The Star Ratings make sense.
The star system also measures the forgiving nature of roads, by determining the probability in which the roads will prevent or minimize the impact of the crashes. Within this approach, which is the result of the International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP), roads are graded on a scale of 1 star (lowest safety) to 5 stars (safest). Not a single step up is random: every additional star corresponds to the reduction of the risk of death or severe injury by half. The fact that these ratings are based on the layout of the road, the speed limit and the amount of traffic on the road but not the behaviour of the driver. Three-star and higher roads are considered to be safe enough to achieve national safety objective.
The Australian Automobile Association (AAA), the association that introduced AusRAP in 2001, but only recently published ratings publicly, underlines that it is essential that this data should become open. Transparency means that political interests are given less influence in the determination of the funds and upgrading priorities of the roads. Through this information, policy makers and ordinary drivers can easily find roads that are in the greatest need to be improved in safety.
Road Safety Snapshot of Western Australia.
Recent Western Australian road quality measurements indicate a wide range of road quality. Remarkably, nearly 82 percent of vehicle travel over the WA state network uses roads having three stars rating or higher. The Garratt Road Bridge and the Narrogin South Rotary were good examples, as both scored 5 stars. On the flipside, there is a handful of high traffic corridors that are rated only at 1 star indicating pressing investment opportunities.
The Future Goals Vision Zero.
The larger objective of these ratings is not only ambitious but also crucial: by 2030, Australia wants at least 80 percent of all travelling to be on three-star-or-better roads. Such an undertaking is consistent with the wider Vision Zero campaign in the country which aims to make our roads death and serious injury free by 2050. These benchmarks provide governments with quantifiable goals, the crash data to accompany it, which may take the form of crash rates and density, makes sure that progress can be monitored and publicly celebrated.
Expanding the Coverage: Other Than Motor Vehicles.
The present scope of AusRAP is road motor vehicle but the program has intentions to include ratings and crash history of risks associated with pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists. This will make safety improvements beneficial to all users of the Australia road network- regardless of the mode of travel.
Frequently Asked Questions
Question 1: What does high star rating imply to the drivers?
A: Every star up increases the risk of death or severe injury in the case of an accident by half.
Q2: Do these ratings get updated on a regular basis?
A: Yes, surveys are formal and states such as WA were assessed in 2023, the outcomes of which can be determined in 2025.
Q3: Does the program take into consideration cyclists and pedestrians?
A: There is expansion in progress of incorporating safety ratings of non-motorists in the near future.
