TAC talks up lifesaving safety barriers

THE Transport Accident Commission (TAC) has launched a new campaign to show the lifesaving capabilities of flexible safety barriers.

The campaign includes footage of a controlled collision with a centreline barrier on a high-speed regional road, which replicates a common fatigue crash.

The campaign, “Safety Barriers Save Lives”, also features testimonials from two of the thousands of Victorians who have avoided serious crashes thanks to flexible safety barriers.

In the TV ad, a Ford Territory hits the barrier at 90kmh and slows by 32kmh in six metres, before the driver applies brakes (as if waking up from a microsleep) and brings the vehicle to a safe and controlled stop.

Last year, 109 of the 155 people who died on Victorian rural roads were in vehicles that left their lane and crashed into roadside trees or poles, or another vehicle.

Research shows flexible barriers reduce these types of crashes from happening by more than 85 per cent.

TAC road safety director Samantha Cockfield said the campaign would create greater public awareness and understanding of barriers, and provide researchers with new insights into how barriers work in a common crash scenario.

“Showing the public footage of how these barriers work will help us continue to educate Victorians that zero lives lost is possible, which is what Towards Zero is all about.

“Road safety experts viewed the barrier crash test in real time and have taken away crash data that will help refine barriers further, allowing them to be used more widely across the road system.”

VicRoads deputy chief executive officer Robyn Seymour said it was important for all Victorians to see how flexible safety barriers work when mistakes happened on the roads.

“The lane departure crashes that these safety barriers prevent are the number one cause of death on regional Victorian roads.

“This footage shows exactly why we’re installing around 2,000km of flexible safety barriers across Victoria – because they save lives.”