Released Under the Freedom of Information Act 1982
Dept of Transport
HDS
Australia
Civil Engineers and Project Managers
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Miepol Pty Ltd
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TWO BUS STOPS ON TOWNSEND STREET,
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Existing Condition Road Safety Audit Rev A
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g
Information Act 1982
Dept of Transport
Released Under the Freedom of
HDS Australia Pty Ltd
Waverley Business Centre
21-23 Aristoc Road
Glen Waverley VIC 3150
telephone
+61 3 9550 1858
email xxx@xxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
www.hdsaustralia.com.au
April 2020
Safe and Sustainable Traffic Engineering Solutions
Released Under the Freedom of Information Act 1982
Dept of Transport
Miepol Pty Ltd
HDS Australia Pty Ltd
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 1
1.1 The Auditors ........................................................................................................ 1
1.2 Site Inspections ................................................................................................... 1
1.3 Audit Process ...................................................................................................... 1
1.4 Responding to the Audit ...................................................................................... 1
1.5 Classification of Concerns ................................................................................... 2
1.6 Safe System Approach ........................................................................................ 2
1.7 Reference Documents Used in the Audit ............................................................. 3
SITE DESCRIPTION .................................................................................................... 1
General................................................................................................................ 1
Previous Audits .................................................................................................... 1
TABLE OF AUDIT FINDINGS ...................................................................................... 2
CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................. 8
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Dept of Transport
Released Under the Freedom of
MI701\211Rev A
Two Bus Stops on Townsend Road, Whittington
April 2021
Existing Condition Road Safety Audit
i
Released Under the Freedom of Information Act 1982
Dept of Transport
Miepol Pty Ltd
HDS Australia Pty Ltd
INTRODUCTION
Miepol Pty Ltd has requested that HDS Australia Pty Ltd conduct an existing condition
stage road safety audit of two bus stops and shelters on Townsend Road, Whittington.
This report is a Road Safety Audit conducted in accordance with the Austroads Road
Safety Audit Guidelines.
1.1
The Auditors
The audit was carried out by:
33(1)
– Senior Road Safety Auditor, HDS Australia Pty Ltd.
33(1)
The audit was reviewed by:
33(1)
– Senior Engineer and Road Safety Auditor, HDS Australia Pty Ltd.
33(1)
1.2
Site Inspections
Daytime site inspection was undertaken on Thursday 9 April 2021. The weather was
fine, and the road surface was dry.
1.3
Audit Process
The road safety audit identifies issues that may affect road user safety however, the
auditors point out that no guarantee can be made that every deficiency has been
identified. Further, if all the recommendations in this report were to be followed, this
would not guarantee that the proposed works are “safe”. Rather, adoption of the
recommendations should improve the level of safety on the road.
1.4
Responding to the Audit
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Dept of Transport
As set out in the Austroads guide, responsibility for any works rests with the project
manager. The project manager is under no obligation to accept the recommendations
of the road safety audit. Also, it is not the role of the auditor to agree to or approve of
Released Under the Freedom of
the project manager’s response to this road safety audit.
The road safety audit provides the opportunity to highlight potential problems and have
them formally considered by the project manager, in conjunction with all other
considerations. The table in Section 3.0 of this report provides a means for the project
manager to document responses to each of the issues identified during the road safety
audit.
MI701\211Rev A
Two Bus Stops on Townsend Road, Whittington
April 2021
Existing Condition Road Safety Audit
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Released Under the Freedom of Information Act 1982
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HDS Australia Pty Ltd
1.5
Classification of Concerns
The safety concerns identified from the audit and recommended actions have been
graded into five classes:
•
INTOLERABLE – Must be corrected;
•
HIGH – Should be corrected or the risk significantly reduced, even if the treatment
cost is high;
•
MEDIUM – Should be corrected or the risk significantly reduced, if the treatment
cost is moderate, but not high;
•
LOW – Should be corrected or the risk reduced, if the treatment cost is low;
•
NOTED – Other items.
These classifications are based on the following risk level matrix:
Frequent (once or
Probable (once or
Occasional (once
Improbable
(less
more a week)
more a year)
or more in 10
often than every 10
years)
years)
Catastrophic (Likely
Intolerable
Intolerable
Intolerable
High
multiple deaths)
Serious (likely death
Intolerable
Intolerable
High
Medium
or serious injury)
Minor (likely minor
Intolerable
High
Medium
Low
injury)
Limited
(property
High
Medium
Low
Low
damage)
1.6
Safe System Approach
The Safe System (SS) approach is a recent development in road safety and network
management. It focuses on the elimination of fatal and serious injury crashes, in line
with the Vision Zero and Towards Zero campaigns. Key to the SS approach is a
recognition that human error is inevitable, and that the road system needs to make
allowance for this and minimise the consequences when errors do occur.
The SS approach emphasises the need to keep the physical forces that road users are
exposed to during a crash to below the thresholds of human tolerance. This is achieved
through a combination of safer speeds, safer vehicles and safer roads with roadsides
Information Act 1982
Dept of Transport
that are more forgiving of human error. Further details of the SS approach are provided
in:
•
Austroads (2019) Guide to Road Safety Part 6: Managing Road Safety Audits,
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Section 3;
•
Austroads (2019) Guide to Road Safety Part 6A: Implementing Road Safety Audits,
Section 1.3; and
•
Austroads (2018) Towards Safe System Infrastructure: A Compendium of Current
Knowledge.
Safe System Assessment (SSA) is a tool for examining how well road improvement
proposals and projects align with the Safe System approach and principles. These can
complement road safety audits, but involve a different assessment methodology and
process. Importantly,
this report is NOT a SSA.
MI701\211Rev A
Two Bus Stops on Townsend Road, Whittington
April 2021
Existing Condition Road Safety Audit
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Released Under the Freedom of Information Act 1982
Dept of Transport
Miepol Pty Ltd
HDS Australia Pty Ltd
However, SS principles are relevant in road safety audits. The most recent Austroads
guides provide details on how to embed SS principles into road safety audits. Key to this
is to identify potential safety hazards or risks where there is the potential for crash types
to exceed threshold impact speeds as shown below:
Figure
Figure 2 – Intolerable crash types
The crash types shown in Figure 2 are likely to result in forces beyond human tolerance,
and therefore the potential for a fatal or serious injury outcome in the event of a crash.
Road safety audit findings that relate to these crash types are highlighted with
IMPORTANT, in addition to the classifications of concerns described above in Section
1.5 (noted, low, medium, high or intolerable). This annotation is included to emphasise
potential issues where features of the road environment may not be in alignment with SS
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principles.
1.7
Reference Documents Used in the Audit
Released Under the Freedom of
•
AS1428.4.1:2009: Means to assist the orientation of people with vision impairment
- TGSI;
•
VicRoads Supplement to AS1742.12:2000;
•
Austroads Guide to Road Design;
•
Austroads Guide to Road Safety Part 6: Managing Road Safety Audits;
•
Austroads Guide to Road Safety Part 6A: Implementing Road Safety Audits; and
•
Relevant VicRoads supplements.
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Two Bus Stops on Townsend Road, Whittington
April 2021
Existing Condition Road Safety Audit
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Dept of Transport
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HDS Australia Pty Ltd
SITE DESCRIPTION
General
The assessment involves the review of two bus stops and shelters at two locations,
namely:
•
Bus stop ID 30632 at 125 Townsend Rd, Whittington; and
•
Bus stop ID 50722 at 118 Townsend Rd, Whittington.
The locations of these stops are shown in Figure 1 below.
N
Bus stop ID 30632
Bus stop ID 50722
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Figure 1 – Locality Plan.
(Image courtesy of Nearmap)
Previous Audits
HDS Australia is not aware of any previous audits at this location.
MI701\211Rev A
Two Bus Stops on Townsend Road, Whittington
April 2021
Existing Condition Road Safety Audit
1
Released Under the Freedom of Information Act 1982
Dept of Transport
Miepol Pty Ltd
HDS Australia Pty Ltd
TABLE OF AUDIT FINDINGS
The findings of the audit are detailed in the following table.
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MI701\211Rev A
Two Bus Stops on Townsend Road, Whittington
April 2021
Existing Condition Road Safety Audit
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Dept of Transport
Miepol Pty Ltd
HDS Australia Pty Ltd
Project Manager
Risk
Item
Audit Findings
Recommendations
Level
Accept
Responses
Yes/No
1
When a bus is stationary at bus stop ID 50722
Medium
the sight lines for vehicles exiting Dickens
Drive to turn either left of right is not
acceptable (about 55m) for the speed
environment.
Consider changing to left turn only on
Dickens Drive.
It should be noted that there is a bus stop (ID
30632) on the northern side of Townsend
Road also which exacerbates the situation for
vehicles wishing to turn right out of Dickens
Drive, should there be a bus at both stops
(30632 and 50722). This situation would require
the driver exiting to turn right from Dickens
Drive to consider three potential points of
conflict simultaneously, i.e. (i) the westbound
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Dept of Transport
traffic, (ii) eastbound traffic and the (iii) bus on
Released Under the Freedom of
the northern side of Townsend Road departing
and merging. This level of complexity could
overwhelm the driver exiting Dickens Drive to
perform
an
ill-considered
and
unsafe
manoeuvre, which may lead to either a side
impact or rear-end crash.
MI701\211Rev A
Two Bus Stops on Townsend Road, Whittington
April 2021
Existing Condition Road Safety Audit
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Released Under the Freedom of Information Act 1982
Dept of Transport
Miepol Pty Ltd
HDS Australia Pty Ltd
Project Manager
Risk
Item
Audit Findings
Recommendations
Level
Accept
Responses
Yes/No
2
The bus zone on the southern side of If this bus zone is now redundant,
Low
Townsend Road and west of Dickens Drive is consider removing this bus zone.
still signposted. This bus zone has an
Australia Post box located within it also.
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Dept of Transport
MI701\211Rev A
Two Bus Stops on Townsend Road, Whittington
April 2021
Existing Condition Road Safety Audit
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Released Under the Freedom of Information Act 1982
Dept of Transport
Miepol Pty Ltd
HDS Australia Pty Ltd
Project Manager
Risk
Item
Audit Findings
Recommendations
Level
Accept
Responses
Yes/No
3
Tactile indicators for the visually impaired are Consider replacing tactile indicators.
Low
a dark grey and should be more visible e.g.,
bright
yellow
as
per
current
DDA
requirements.
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Dept of Transport
MI701\211Rev A
Two Bus Stops on Townsend Road, Whittington
April 2021
Existing Condition Road Safety Audit
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Released Under the Freedom of Information Act 1982
Dept of Transport
Miepol Pty Ltd
HDS Australia Pty Ltd
Project Manager
Risk
Item
Audit Findings
Recommendations
Level
Accept
Responses
Yes/No
4
Yellow bus bay linemarking is faded.
Consider remarking both bus zones to
Comment
coincide with the bus zone signposting.
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Dept of Transport
MI701\211Rev A
Two Bus Stops on Townsend Road, Whittington
April 2021
Existing Condition Road Safety Audit
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Released Under the Freedom of Information Act 1982
Dept of Transport
Miepol Pty Ltd
HDS Australia Pty Ltd
Project Manager
Risk
Item
Audit Findings
Recommendations
Level
Accept
Responses
Yes/No
5
The BUS ZONE (R) sign on the approach side Install a BUS ZONE (R) sign on the
Comment
of the bus stop (ID 50722) is missing therefore approach to the bus stop to clearly
making the bus zone nonconforming.
define the limits of the bus zone.
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Corrective Action Report:
Responsible Officer’s Name: ...........................................................................................................................
Released Under the Freedom of
Dept of Transport
Agency and Department: ................................................................................................................................
Signed: ............................................................................................................
Date: ...............................
MI701\211Rev A
Two Bus Stops on Townsend Road, Whittington
April 2021
Existing Condition Road Safety Audit
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Released Under the Freedom of Information Act 1982
Dept of Transport
Miepol Pty Ltd
HDS Australia Pty Ltd
CONCLUSION
This Road Safety Audit has been conducted in accordance with the procedures set out
in the Austroads Guide to Road Safety Part 6: Managing Road Safety Audits (2019) and
Austroads Guide to Road Safety Part 6A: Implementing Road Safety Audits (2019). The
site has been inspected and the supporting documentation has been examined. The
findings and recommendations shown in Section 3.0 should be addressed to improve
the safety of the road environment.
Audited by:
33(1)
33(1)
Senior Road Safety Auditor
HDS Australia Pty Ltd
Reviewed by:
33(1)
33(1)
Senior Road Safety Auditor
HDS Australia Pty Ltd
Information Act 1982
Dept of Transport
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MI701\211Rev A
Two Bus Stops on Townsend Road, Whittington
April 2021
Existing Condition Road Safety Audit
8
