INADEQUATE CRASH DATA

Road authorities in this country most certainly are responsible for ALL road users.

There are two reasons for the failures of wire rope barriers NOT being public knowledge.

First, most crash site data does not identify the barrier type. Police attending crashes are mostly NOT trained crash investigation officers as a letter from VicPol, which I recently posted online, points out. The lack of reliable crash data has been documented in more than one parliamentary inquiry in recent years.The Inquiry Into Crashes Involving Roadside Objects 2005 states. 

"The (road safety) Committee noted a number of areas where crash information was missing or could have been more detailed. The difficulty in obtaining adequate data, in particular travel exposure information to better assess crash risk and target safety treatments, is a continuing issue in Victoria, coming up time and time again in Committee inquiries. Governments agree to improve crash information , yet crash and crash risk information continues to be an impediment to the improvement of roadside safety in Victoria. Crash information recording and publications need to be greatly improved." 

In 2012 another all-party committee of MPs wrote. 

"Addressing the data issue is the single most critical aspect of our future response to motorcycle safety." 

Recommendation 1 from their report starts. 

"That an independent office of road safety data be created which will be responsible for collecting, collating, interpreting and publishing all data relevant to road safety ....." 

Presumably the MPs wrote this because the problem with crash data was/is systemic.

The other reason that WRB's failures are not common knowledge may well be the billions of our tax dollars road authorities have spent on a dangerous product acts as a disincentive to full disclosure.