Get your infrastructure freak on.

The  Cycling Aspects of Austroads Guides is now available for free download.

This is an essential resource for people lobbying for cycling infrastructure in their local community. The publication provides an overview of the design, construction and maintenance of bicycle infrastructure and provides references to Austroad’s Guidelines for more indepth information.

From BIKESydney via Bike Marrickville

From the pdf

1.2 Safe System Approach

In Australia, a Safe System approach to road safety has been adopted which recognises that humans, as road users are fallible and will continue to make mistakes, and that the community should not penalise people with death or serious injury when they do make mistakes. In a Safe System, therefore, roads (and vehicles) should be designed to reduce the incidence and severity of crashes when they occur. The Safe System approach requires, in part (Australian  Transport Council 2006):

• designing, constructing and maintaining a road system (roads, vehicles and operating requirements) so that forces on the human body generated in crashes are generally less than those resulting in fatal or debilitating injury.
• improving roads and roadsides to reduce the risk of crashes and minimise harm: measures for higher-speed roads including dividing traffic, designing ‘forgiving’ roadsides, and providing clear driver guidance. In areas with large numbers of vulnerable road users or substantial collision risk, speed management supplemented by road and roadside treatments is a key strategy for limiting crashes.
• managing speeds, taking into account the risks on different parts of the road system.

In New Zealand, practical steps have been taken to give effect to similar guiding principles through a Safety Management Systems (SMS) approach.

Road designers should be aware of and through the design process actively support the philosophy and road safety objectives covered in the Guide to Road Safety (Austroads 2006 – 2009). The philosophy and objectives are as relevant to pedestrian and cyclists paths as they  are to roads in general.