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The Legislative Council Select Committee on Road Safety Met in Committee Room 2, Parliament House, Hobart, on Thursday 26 March 2009

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The Legislative Council Select Committee on Road Safety Met in Committee Room 2, Parliament House, Hobart, on Thursday 26 March 2009 THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL SELECT COMMITTEE ON ROAD SAFETY MET IN COMMITTEE ROOM 2, PARLIAMENT HOUSE, HOBART, ON THURSDAY 26 MARCH 2009. Mr RALPH RALLINGS WAS CALLED, MADE THE STATUTORY DECLARATION, AND WAS EXAMINED. CHAIR (Mr Wing) - Thank you for coming. Mr RALLINGS - Road surface conditions are relatively complicated technology. I just want to focus on two aspects of it: night-time visibility and skid resistance. It do not put myself down as an expert on skid resistance, but in an area of general ignorance I guess I am seen as that. I started in pavements in 1976 when I was in charge of the Materials and Research Division of the then Public Works Department. On and off over 20 or 30 years I have had regular but not really intense involvement. I have always kept up with the literature and have read the literature really from about 1976 onwards. Literature was always available at that time through the departmental library. I guess at times when you would go to an accident site and see that skid resistance had been an important factor in a fatality it does sort of sharpen your senses about it. I just want to briefly talk about night-time visibility. What I said in the report is that when you drive around Hobart or anywhere sometimes you can see the lines very clearly, sometimes you cannot see them at all - CHAIR - Particularly if wet. Mr RALLINGS - in wet conditions. It doesn't have to be like that. It is a question of putting resources into it, and also in terms of improving some people's understanding. I quoted in the paper that I thought night-time accidents were about twice the rate of day-time accidents. The AASHTO strategic road safety plan, that is a big American one, says three times the number. Mr DEAN - Are they Australian figures? Mr RALLINGS - No, they are American. Ms FORREST - When you say that some figures say two times greater at night, and this study says three, is that taking into consideration that there are less vehicles on the road at night? Mr RALLINGS - Accident rates are normally expressed in terms of vehicle kilometres. Ms FORREST - Right, so that has considered that then. Mr RALLINGS - Yes. They are normally expressed in accidents per 100 million vehicle kilometres. What they are saying is it is three times the rate of the day-time accidents. Mr DEAN - But you don't have any statistical data on accidents within Australia? LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL SELECT COMMITTEE ON ROAD SAFETY 1 REGULATION, HOBART 26/03/09 (RALLINGS) Mr RALLINGS - No. My expertise is much more with respect to materials behaviour, pavement behaviour, and I really do not have a very detailed understanding of accident rates. One of the things I commented on is that pedestrian deaths are a lot higher than most people realise. The facts put out by Austroads indicate that pedestrian road deaths are 15 per cent of all deaths, and 25 per cent of urban road deaths. Ms FORREST - Are you suggesting that is more at night too? Mr RALLINGS - I think so, but I don't know that. It is interesting that pedestrians get killed a lot more than what is given normal publicity. I am just making that comment, and this is what I have read. You can do a lot more about night-time visibility. I guess the plea here is that there is a lot of focus on accident fatalities, but improved night-time visibility can make people feel safer at night. A lot of older people just don't want to go out at night in wet weather because of poor night-time visibility. Mr DEAN - Particularly in wet weather where the lines are almost impossible to see unless you keep intense attention on them. CHAIR - And there's no requirement for learner drivers to have experience of night driving conditions before they get their licence. Mr RALLINGS - There is abundance evidence that the probability of a road accident in wet conditions sharply increases as skid resistance falls. There are some recent Tasmanian studies that show a tenfold variation in wet road accident rates across the skid-resistance spectrum. I do work for the department and I was asked to review this report a year ago. It's put out by WDM, who do the skid resistance measurements for the department. Their focus was on actually setting down what's called the investigatory levels. There is a lot of very interesting basic data in that and it really shows that the wet road accident rate increases by 10 times. Is it appropriate for me to give it to you? CHAIR - Yes, certainly. We're happy to receive any information. Mr RALLINGS - It is a little bit confidential because I work for DIER. I work mainly for the asset management branch. They've commissioned this study and have asked me to review it. I've been intensely interested in it. I've provided them with advice and then I've thought about it a bit more. Ms FORREST - So, would you like this evidence presented in camera, in confidence? Mr RALLINGS - I think if you ask the department for the report they'd give it to you. CHAIR - What is it called? Mr RALLINGS - Review of Investigatory Level used in Tasmania for Skid Resistance. I haven't seen the final report. CHAIR - Is there a final one? Mr RALLINGS - I'm not sure. I commented on the drafts over a year ago. LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL SELECT COMMITTEE ON ROAD SAFETY 2 REGULATION, HOBART 26/03/09 (RALLINGS) Mr HARRISS - Mr Rallings, would you be in any way compromised by DIER knowing that you are here at this hearing? CHAIR - They're the next witness. Mr RALLINGS - Yes, I might be but on the other hand I wouldn't like to see information that is saying there's a tenfold increase in accident rates not brought to the attention of people involved in road safety. One of the difficulties has been that basically from about the early 1980s the publication of almost anything on road safety on skid resistance wasn't really encouraged by the then NASRA and Austroads. It was just basic fear of litigation. It actually got really very quiet. People like myself and technical people just never got involved in anything further on road safety. CHAIR - Over what period was the tenfold increase in accident rates? Mr RALLINGS - Basically, what happens is that WDM carry out a skid-resistance survey of the State. You can go along and split up the road into sections of difference for skid resistance. They have then looked at the wet road accident rates. If the value is 0.3, they have found out how many accidents for 0.3, 0.4 or 0.5 and so on. Ms FORREST - With 0.3 being the lower skid resistance? Mr RALLINGS - Lowest, yes. They've got wet road accident rates up to about 60 times more and the best is when the skid resistance is higher - then it's down to about 5. CHAIR - So, the tenfold increase is over what period? Mr RALLINGS - It's not over a period. They did the study over, I think, two years of accidents. CHAIR - So the tenfold increase relates to what then? Mr RALLINGS - It happens when the skid resistance falls - the probability of an accident. It is shown on this figure here in both the blue and the red. You would also see that the accident rate - there is some English data. So our most severe accident rates - the highest ones - are about 10 times the British rate for the wet roads. I do not want to push this too far but what I am saying is that there is actually a real cause for concern about the skid resistance of Tasmanian roads. Ms FORREST - So how do our surfaces differ from the UK roads? Because obviously that must be the factor here. Is it? Mr RALLINGS - Yes, there are. Ms FORREST - Can you explain what the difference is? Mr RALLINGS - I went to a meeting in the early 1990s to try to set up an Austroads standard. The way Austroads work is by consensus. I think Tasmania is very happy to have a general standard. I think New South Wales and Victoria were. They definitely LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL SELECT COMMITTEE ON ROAD SAFETY 3 REGULATION, HOBART 26/03/09 (RALLINGS) were. But one of two States did not want it so nothing happened. Victoria and New South Wales did actually put together their own standard. But I think they made a mistake in it. Something that I have only just realised is that when the British do a skid-resistant survey they work out the skid resistance over a 100-metre length and then they multiply it by 0.78. So they actually reduce the value. That is what they have used for their standards. We have used the same number but have not multiplied it by this 0.78. So we are actually using a different standard. CHAIR - How long have you been with the department? Mr RALLINGS - I do not work with the department anymore. CHAIR - I see. Mr RALLINGS - I was with the department for 22 years from 1976 to 1998. I now work for Pitt & Sherry. I was part of the part that was sold off to Pitt & Sherry. CHAIR - You are an engineer, are you? Mr RALLINGS - I am an engineer. CHAIR - I remember that there was a section of road just south of Epping on the Midland Highway.
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