RoadWatch: Roundup

October 2024

Welcome to our monthly Austroads RoadWatch: Roundup for October. Discover our latest news, published reports, Guide updates, webinars and events.

Austroads launches updated Lifeline Risk Indicator Tool to strengthen road connectivity in rural areas

Austroads has announced the release of the updated Lifeline Risk Indicator Tool, an online resource designed to enhance road connectivity for rural and remote communities across Australia and New Zealand.

Maintaining road connections to rural or remote communities is vital as there is often a lack of alternative connections. Where there are few road options to communities, these are known as lifeline routes. Lifeline routes ensure communities remain connected when alternative routes are cut-off due to natural disasters such as floods or earthquakes.

"Maintaining access to lifeline routes is vital for the resilience of our remote communities and to support our freight industry. Investing in lifeline routes does not always stack up using a traditional cost-benefit analysis, but Austroads members know these routes are crucial to ensuring safety and support during a crisis," Amy Naulls, Austroads Network Operations Program Manager said.

The updated tool is now available for access on the Austroads website at austroads.info/lifeline and is intended to complement existing assessment methods, such as CSIRO’s Transport Network Strategic Investment Tool (TraNSIT) and BITRE’s Australian Transport Assessment Planning Guidelines.

Join us for a webinar on Wednesday 23 October 2024 with Ben Mason, Dr Stacy Rendall and Valentin Perez to hear how the tool was updated and watch a practical run-through using the web-based Lifeline Risk Indicator Tool.

Read more | Register for the webinar

Revised arrangements for transition of overseas car and motorcycle licences to Australian licences

Austroads has released new arrangements for the transition of overseas issued driver and motorcycle rider licences to Australian licences. The arrangements provide for more streamlined conversion of licences from certain countries, in some cases, without any additional testing requirements.

Austroads manages overseas issued licences on behalf of its member agencies under its Recognised Country Scheme. The scheme, which has been in place for nearly 20 years, has been reviewed and updated to reflect the changing and complex international driver licence environment.

“The new process has been designed with strengthened assessment criteria, greater clarity regarding mandatory requirements and a focus on a Safe System approach”, said Geoff Allan, Austroads Chief Executive.

“Additionally, given the growing reliance on a licence as proof of identify, as well as the rise in identity theft and document fraud, the changes will introduce a mechanism for applicant countries to confirm the validity and currency of their licences”, said Geoff.

Read more

Australian jurisdictions back move to align mobile drivers’ licences with international standards for better licence verification and safer roads

Australia is taking a significant step forward in digital transformation with the new Digital Trust Service led by Austroads, marking an important step towards national and international harmonisation of mobile driver's licence standards and verification.

For the first time, the Digital Trust Service would enable Australian jurisdictions to safely and securely verify credentials in line with international best practice (ISO-compliant).

Dr Geoff Allan, CEO of Austroads, remarked that the delivery of the Digital Trust Service has set a new benchmark in cross jurisdictional collaboration, bringing about a nation-wide solution that can safely, securely and reliably support the ecosystem of organisations that rely on drivers’ licences to verify driver status, age, and identity.

“It seeks to solve complex credential challenges. Currently states and territories do not use a common standard. Fragmentation between states leaves Australians more open to security and road safety risks. The Digital Trust Service seeks to harmonise all digital drivers licences across Australia, ensuring that they can be verified regardless of the jurisdiction or location within Australia or New Zealand and even verified in North America and the European Union,” Allan said.

Read more

TCA expands telematics capacity and moves closer to potential real-time data availability

Transport Certification Australia (TCA) – the centre of excellence within Austroads responsible for providing assurance in the use of telematics and other vehicle-based technologies – is undertaking a significant expansion of its telematics data capacity.

Through its administration of the National Telematics Framework, TCA helps Australian and New Zealand transport agencies collect data that enable improved road outcomes.

 “Running multiple highly assured data collection schemes, across a marketplace of 30 approved telematics service providers and suppliers of hardware, TCA receives data that is generated every 30 seconds from over 17,000 vehicles across Australia. This regular, standardised and low-latency data collection is crucial for monitoring, managing road usage and improving road outcomes for our members, and TCA is working to drive down the time to publish this data for road managers and regulators,” said Matt Brunsdon, Austroads’ Chief Data & Technology Officer.

“The surge in demand highlights the importance and critical reliance on TCA’s services. In response, we have embarked on a project to modernise our existing data platform, aiming at enhancing its capacity and service delivery,” said Matt. “This will enable us to better accommodate growing vehicle enrolments and provide more effective support to our stakeholders.”

Read more

AusRAP partners pledge commitment to safer roads for all users

Austroads, the lead of the Australian Road Assessment Program (AusRAP), has joined with its partners – the Australasian College of Road Safety (ACRS), the National Transport Research Organisation (NTRO), and the International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP) – to pledge support for safer roads for all users by 2030.

As mechanisms to drive better safety outcomes, the use of AusRAP and other risk-based assessment tools, as well as road safety audits, contribute to achieving national as well as specific state or territory fatality and serious injury reduction goals.

“Every week in Australia 25 people die and 770 are seriously injured. This level of trauma is unacceptable. Safer roads will play a significant role in reducing this amount of harm in our communities and that is why we commit to the use of AusRAP and other risk-based assessment tools to achieve the national target that at least 80% of travel occurs on roads with a 3-star rating or higher by 2030,” said Geoff Allan, Austroads Chief Executive.

“Our pledge today supports the transformation of Australian road safety. With just five years remaining to halve the number of deaths on our roads and meet the targets set in the National Road Safety Strategy, the urgency for action is greater than ever,” said Geoff. “Our pledge today supports the transformation of Australian road safety. With just five years remaining to halve the number of deaths on our roads and meet the targets set in the National Road Safety Strategy, the urgency for action is greater than ever.”

Read more

Opportunities to Increase Freight and Supply Chain Resilience | Register
Wednesday, 23 October 2024, 1 pm AEDT                                                                       

The Lifeline Risk Indicator Tool has been updated and migrated to the Austroads website as an online-enabled tool. This tool has two purposes. First is to identify lifeline freight routes and allow road managers to establish a lifeline route network. Second is to rank investments in lifeline routes in terms of economic and social impacts. This webinar will step through the process undertaken to update the tool and a practical run-through of how the web-based Lifeline Risk Indicator Tool can be used.

Harmonisation of Road Safety Audit Practices | Register
Thursday, 24 October 2024, 1 pm AEDT                                                                             

Austroads members are committed to improving the consistency and quality of road safety audit practices across Australia and New Zealand and have agreed to implement a national framework to manage road safety auditors and road safety audit training providers. Join this webinar for an overview of the national harmonisation project, including why it is needed, the anticipated benefits, what the national framework will look like, as well as project deliverables and timelines.

Addressing Head-on Conflicts Towards a Safe System Alignment | Register
Wednesday, 30 October 2024, 1 pm AEDT                                                                         

Head-on crashes are a serious issue in Australia and New Zealand. The provision of an appropriate median or centreline treatment is important to mitigate the risk of head-on crashes. Register for this webinar to learn about a range of treatments, including their applicability, effectiveness, maintenance considerations and implications for other road users.

Climate Change and Natural Hazards Risk Assessment and Adaptation Planning | Register
Friday, 15 November 2024, 1 pm AEDT                                                                             

Recognising the need to assist organisations to undertake climate and natural hazards risk assessments in accordance with latest industry practice and national, state and local policy, Austroads has developed Climate Change and Natural Hazard Risk Assessment and Adaptation Planning Guidelines. In this webinar, presenters will step you through the process set out in the guidelines, highlighting key concepts with examples and supporting resources.

Incorporating Climate Change Resilience in Asset Management | Register
Wednesday, 20 November 2024, 1 pm AEDT                                                                        

This webinar will present the outcomes of Austroads’ recent project that developed practical guidance for asset managers to embed consideration of climate resilience into their asset management processes.

Transport Agency Decarbonisation | Register
Thursday, 21 November 2024, 1 pm AEDT                                                                        

This webinar will focus on the Decarbonisation Decision-Making Guidance and associated multi-criteria analysis tool developed by Austroads to assist agencies and practitioners in the strategic prioritisation of emission reduction interventions. Register to hear about the key concepts and process.

View recent webinar recordings

Work with us

Current projects

Are you looking for an opportunity to work on an Austroads project? The following projects are open for tender:

• ESC6516 Research Climate Change and Natural Hazards Resilience Needs and Guidance Approaches. Closing 4 pm AEDT Tuesday 5 November.

• AAM6161 Updating Austroads Asset Management Test Methods. Closing 4 pm AEDT Tuesday 12 November. 

Find out more

Current vacancies

Austroads and Transport Certification Australia (TCA) employ staff across a range of specialised and technical disciplines. We pay attention to maintaining a safe and welcoming work environment, where all staff have equal access to opportunities. We encourage our staff to participate in external and internal training to make sure their skills and knowledge are continuously improved. We take inclusion and diversity seriously. We embrace difference and diversity of identity, experience and thought, and actively strive for inclusive behaviours across our company and our work.

We currently have an open position for a Registry Support Officer

Upcoming industry events

Join us for the 12th Austroads Bridge Conference, 25 – 27 June 2025 in Brisbane. 

ABC25 is a gathering of the brightest minds and leading industry experts. Join us at the forefront of bridge technology, where ideas are shared, problems are solved, and knowledge is exchanged. Visit the ABC25 website to secure your spot and ensure you don't miss out on this landmark event!