Welcome to our monthly Austroads RoadWatch: Roundup for February
RoadWatch: Roundup
February 2024
Welcome to our monthly Austroads RoadWatch: Roundup for February. Discover our latest news, published reports, Guide updates, webinars and events.
Austroads: A 90-year journey of driving national transport standards and harmonisation
As Austroads commemorates nine decades of contributions to Australia's transport landscape, it is fitting to reflect on its rich history and evolution. Since its inception in 1934, Austroads has been instrumental in developing and applying national standards to enhance transport outcomes across the country.
The organisation's journey began with a visionary proposal put forward by the NSW Minister for Transport in June 1933, leading to the establishment of the Conference of State Road Authorities (COSRA) in 1934. The inaugural COSRA meeting in Melbourne, on 14 February, marked the beginning of a collaborative effort among state road executives to exchange knowledge and improve road administration and practice.
In 1959, COSRA evolved into the National Association of Australian State Road Authorities (NAASRA), reflecting its transition into an organisation rather than an annual meeting. Focused on delivering a uniform approach to the national road system's development and improvement, NAASRA's establishment of the Australian Road Research Board (ARRB) in 1960 further emphasised its commitment to research-driven road construction and management practices.
The transformative journey continued in 1989 when NAASRA was renamed Austroads, aligning with member organisations' efforts to integrate traffic, safety, registration, licensing, design, and construction activities. In 1993, the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) and Transit New Zealand became members.
“Austroads' 90-year journey is a testament to our commitment to driving national transport standards and innovation. From our groundbreaking beginnings as COSRA to our current role, we continue to shape Australasia's transport landscape for the benefit of all," said Chief Executive Geoff Allan
“Austroads' expanded role in leading the delivery of complex projects to embed change into transport practice reflects the confidence our members have in capabilities and our ongoing commitment to delivering innovation and excellence,” Geoff said.
Austroads to deliver world first hazard perception test for heavy vehicle drivers
Austroads has commissioned Professor Sharon Newnam from the Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety to lead a new project to design, develop, and deliver a heavy vehicle hazard perception test for the Australian environment. The project will be undertaken in collaboration with hazard perception experts, Dr Andrew Hill and Professor Mark Horswill from the University of Queensland.
Hazard perception is one of the few driving-specific skills consistently found to be associated with crash risk. In many jurisdictions across the world, light vehicle drivers are required to achieve a passing score on a computer-based hazard perception test before being allowed to progress to an unrestricted driver licence. To date, hazard perception tests have not been developed specifically for use in heavy vehicle licensing.
In the recent review of the National Heavy Vehicle Competency Framework, Austroads identified hazard perception testing of heavy vehicle licence applicants as a potential method for achieving safety improvements.
The hazard perception testing program will be incorporated into the learning outcomes of the National Heavy Vehicle Competency Framework and will complement other components being developed as part of a broad suite of enhancements to Australia’s heavy vehicle licensing system.
Accelerating transport infrastructure projects: new report provides practical guidelines and case studies
Austroads has released a new report with practical measures to boost the efficiency of transport infrastructure projects and programs. The report focuses on accelerated projects and programs up to $500 million.
The report emphasises the identification and mitigation of potential issues at each stage of the project delivery lifecycle.
“Many projects need expediated delivery because of external factors like environmental disasters or changes, financial stimulus and challenges, and government priorities,” said Ross Guppy, Manager of the Transport Infrastructure program at Austroads. “To accelerate the delivery of these projects, road authorities may adopt more novel approaches to planning, project management, design, procurement or construction.”
“The report provides a robust foundation for accelerating projects, ensuring a balance between speed, quality and cost-effectiveness,” said Ross.
This report offers a roadmap for project acceleration, setting a new standard for informed decision-making and excellence in the transport infrastructure landscape. The research methodology includes a questionnaire, interviews and a literature review.
Austroads has proposed a new approach for assessing whether the risk resulting from the transit of dangerous goods is lower on a tunnel route or lower on an alternative surface route.
The approach, influenced by the insights from a review of international practice, largely draws on European experience where countries like Austria, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland have national methodologies that offer an official evaluation procedure. Prior to the release of this Austroads methodology no such national method existed in Australia or New Zealand.
The decision to restrict dangerous goods traffic through tunnels should also consider environmental and ecological risks, with community, social and economic benefits.
“Neither Australia nor New Zealand have a standardised risk assessment approach for considering risk to life associated with how we route dangerous goods. By providing this method, we address a need of road authorities to have a rational documented risk-based input to the multi-facetted decisions that must be made about routing dangerous goods through tunnels,” said Ross Guppy, Austroads Transport Infrastructure Program Manager.
Tuesday 26 March 2024, 2pm AEDT
Register for a webinar with Dr Conrad Stacey and Nigel Casey presenting the work involved in developing a standardised comparative risk assessment method for dangerous goods in road tunnels.
Austroads, a longstanding authority in verifying Australian driver licenses, is set to spearhead a groundbreaking initiative in the digital identity landscape. Having played a pivotal role in the National Document Verification Service (DVS) for driver licenses, processing over four million verifications each month, Austroads is poised to extend its expertise into digital identity.
Since 2018, Austroads has led development of international digital credentialing standards with its partner peak bodies the Association of American Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA) and Association of European Vehicle and Driver Registration Authorities (EReg).
The global partnership and vendors including Google, Apple, Samsung, Thales, Idemia, HID, NEC and Get Group collaborated to develop the International Standard for digital driver licences.
Austroads Director of Digital Identity, Dr Kirsten McKillop, said “We aim to harmonise digital driver licenses and other credentials across Australia, enabling their use by any government agency or business at any time and place. A common standard is essential to ensure that the mutual recognition we have today for physical driver licenses extends seamlessly into the digital realm. We understand that our customers and businesses are demanding this.”
“We are also working closely with international counterparts to showcase how European and North American credentials can interoperate and be verified here in Australia and overseas without needing to share data,” said Christopher Goh, Austroads National Harmonisation Lead – Digital Identity.
The showcases will be in October 2024 with details to be announced closer to the date. Austroads previously co-hosted this event with the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads in Brisbane in December 2022.
A request for quote is now open for an organisation to provide procurement and contract management services to support this project. Closing date: 4pm AEDT, Friday 23 February 2024.
Austroads has also issued an expression of interest (EOI) for IT companies interested in delivering the next generation of a Digital Trust Service for verifiable credentials. Closing date: 4pm AEDT, Wednesday 6 March 2024.
A forum on the EOI will be held in Sydney on 26 February 2024 and will provide an opportunity to ask questions and seek clarification on direction, architecture and solution requirements. Participants can attend the forum in person or online.
Vendors interested in responding to the EOI or request for quote and participating in the forum will find more information at austroads.com.au/tenders.
Read more | Register for the in-person forum | Register for the online session
Austroads has developed five aspirational principles and supporting discussion to provide a framework within which driver licensing regulators in Australia approach their decision making and practice.
The proposed approach is underpinned by a number of nationally agreed frameworks and policies signed off by all state and territory and commonwealth ministers. Those include the National Driver Licensing Scheme, the National Heavy Vehicle Driver Competency Framework, and Assessing Fitness to Drive guidelines.
“While each licensing authority in Australia makes its own legislation and policy in regard to driver licensing, there is an intent to take a harmonised approach where possible,” said Michael Nieuwesteeg, Austroads Road Safety and Design Program Manager.
“The principles are a guide to people wishing to understand licensing in Australia. Harmonisation of licensing practice will support safety outcomes and minimise administrative burden for licence holders and regulators,” said Michael.
Webinar will share learnings on creating safe active streets in Western Australia
Austroads and the Cycling and Walking Australia and New Zealand (CWANZ) will host a webinar to share learnings from Western Australia’s Safe Active Streets Pilot Program.
The pilot program, designed to encourage more people to walk, wheel and ride in their communities, has been developed, trialled and evaluated by the Department of Transport Western Australia in collaboration with Western Australian local governments.
The pilot program trialled and adapted common local area traffic management treatments to create 30 km/h environments with unique designs that reflect local community needs.
This webinar explores the origins of the program, how and why it started. It will share high-level insights from the evaluation, including what worked, what didn’t and what was learnt along the way. It will also share ‘where to next’ for the program and how this work will be used to inform guidelines to support the delivery of safe active street infrastructure by local government into the future.
Tuesday 19 March 2024, 1pm AEDT
Register for this webinar presented by Caroline Elliott and Liza Picton from the Urban Mobility Team at the Department of Transport Western Australia.
ARSC 2024: call for submissions now open
The Australasian College of Road Safety (ACRS) is excited to announce that the call for submissions to the 2024 Australasian Road Safety Conference is now open.
The ARSC invites road safety practitioners and researchers to submit an Extended Abstract or Interactive Workshop proposal on their latest work. They are looking for innovative, evidence-based insights from recent work that can help improve road safety outcomes and meet targets for 2030.
Key details:
- Abstract Submission Period: 1 February - 17 March, 2024
- Submit your Abstract here: 2024 ARSC Abstract Portal
- Conference Dates: 30 Sept - 3 Oct 2024
- Conference Venue: Hotel Grand Chancellor, Hobart
For detailed submission guidelines and additional information, please visit the 2024 Australasian Road Safety Conference website.
PIARC Special Projects: open calls for proposals
PIARC is launching three calls for proposals for the special projects to be implemented in 2024.
The projects are:
- "Artificial Intelligence in the Road Sector"
- "Rapid Impact Assessment"
- "Updates to the Road Safety Manual"
Submissions are invited to be emailed to info@piarc.org before 15 March 2024.
Find out more about the background, purpose, methodology, deliverables, key dates and budget of these projects at the PIARC website.
There is no charge for our webinars, but registration is essential. If you can’t make the live session, register and we will send you a link to the recording.
Optimising Project Delivery Performance – Accelerated Projects | Register
Tuesday, 27 February 2024, 1 pm AEDT
While there is an extensive range of advice on project management, there is little written up on how to successfully set-up and accelerate programs of work using the best of project management and governance techniques, particularly in the context of Australia and New Zealand. The Austroads recently complete project aimed to fill this gap by highlighting key things to consider for programs generally up to $500 million from the experience of over 50 experts. This webinar will outline the findings from the project.
Guidelines for Incident Response Vehicles and Truck-Mounted Attenuators | Register
Tuesday, 5 March 2024, 1 pm AEDT
This webinar will present the results of the Austroads project that developed guidelines for incident response vehicles and truck-mounted attenuators. The project was delivered as an iMOVE project by Queensland University of Technology and Deakin University.
Safe Active Streets – an Overview of Western Australia’s Pilot Program | Register
Tuesday, 19 March 2024, 1 pm AEDT
The Department of Transport Western Australia has been working with Western Australian local governments to develop, trial and evaluate ‘safe active streets’ to encourage more people to walk, wheel and ride in their communities. This webinar explores the origins of the program, how and why it started and will share high-level insights from the evaluation, including what worked, what didn’t and what was learnt along the way.
Methodology for Comparing
Dangerous Goods Risk in Road Tunnels to Those on Alternative Routes | Register
Tuesday, 26 March 2024, 2 pm AEDT
This webinar will present the work involved in developing a standardised comparative risk assessment method for assessing life safety risk of dangerous goods being routed through the tunnel or via an alternative surface route.
Validation of Superpave™ Method of Asphalt Compaction for Australasia | Register
Thursday, 4 April 2024, 1 pm AEDT
Austroads has completed a project to replace the obsolete gyratory compactors used in design and quality control testing of asphalt mixes and update its Guide to Pavement Technology Part 4B: Asphalt. This webinar will provide a detailed overview of the project, including the findings of the literature review and test data.
Austroads tenders and project opportunities
- COR6485 Expression of interest for the Austroads Digital Trust Service for verifiable credentials. Closing 4pm AEDT, Wednesday 6 March 2024.
- COR6485 Procurement and Contract Management Services. Closing 4pm AEDT, Friday 23 February 2024.
- EAS6420 Sustainability Review of Technical Specifications. Closing 4pm AEDT, Wednesday 21 February 2024.
- BN2019 Supply and maintenance of the Austroads IT Registry System. Closing 4pm AEDT, Wednesday 6 March 2024.
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 open positions for:
Executive Assistant – Austroads
Senior Communications Officer – Stakeholder Engagement and Media
BITRE research
BITRE's monthly bulletin contains current counts and summaries of road crash deaths and fatal road crashes in Australia. Data are sourced from the road traffic or police authorities in each jurisdiction.
You can also view monthly updated road safety statistics and an Australian Road Deaths Database.
Upcoming industry events
2024 LBRCA Annual Conference, Wagga Wagga, 23-24 February 2024
Technology Maintenance & Safety Conference, Christchurch, New Zealand, 13-14 March 2024
TMAA Conference, Gold Coast, 13-15 March 2024
Roads, Tolling and Technology Conference, Brisbane, 20-21 March 2024
IPWEA Australasian Fleet Conference, Brisbane, 25-27 March 2024
