Road safety treatments

This technical guide is for officers of the Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics (DIPL) project and engineering consultants.

To reduce the risk of fatal and serious injury crashes on Northern Territory (NT) roads, there are certain road safety treatments you must follow.

This page provides guidance about the scope and application of road safety treatments on the NT Government road network.

You should check this page for the latest road safety treatments.

Changes will be made to it as needed. View the version history.

Scope and requirements

These road safety treatments are national best practices and proven countermeasures to reduce the risk of fatal and serious injury crashes on Australian roads.

You should apply these treatments in the planning and design of new road infrastructure and operations projects.

The following treatments are default requirements to reduce safety risk unless justification is documented in a planning, or design report.

All roads

The below applies to all NT Government roads.

Motorcyclists

Fit all new installations of road safety barriers with motorcyclist injury countermeasures (such as underrun protection) on urban arterial roads suitable to the barrier type and application.

Vulnerable users

In an urban or rural environment where demand exists, the project scope must include infrastructure to help safer road use of pedestrians and/or cyclists.

At the planning stage of a project, you should review existing speed limits on the road where there is high pedestrian and/or cyclist use.

Intersection - pedestrian

You should provide signalised pedestrian crossings on all approaches at signalised intersections where pedestrian/cyclist demand is medium to high.

  • Medium - 50 or more pedestrian and/or cyclist movements in a peak hour.
  • High - 100 or more pedestrian and/or cyclist movements in a peak hour.

Pedestrian crossing protection (delayed start to vehicle movements) is required.

You should consider left-turn slip lanes with medium to high pedestrian demand for signalisation.

Consider and prevent associated traffic congestion due to signalisation, but road safety of pedestrians must be a high priority.

Protected turn lanes

New and upgraded signalised intersections must have protected turning lanes on major roads.

A major road is an arterial road with a speed limit of 80km/h or above.

Filter turns are not permitted at signalised intersections.

Gravel road intersections

For a gravel road intersecting with a sealed road on the approach to the intersection, you should seal:

  • 50m road section
  • 100m road section - if road trains operate on the gravel road.

Head-on

For all divided roads with posted speed greater than 80km/hr, clear medians of all hazards, unless protected by a roadside barrier.

Frangible poles and posts are not considered hazards for this purpose.

Rest areas and stopping bays

You must provide:

  • resting facilities for heavy and passenger vehicles at regular intervals on rural roads - as per the NTG rest facilities policy
  • channelised turn lane treatment at access to rest areas.

Treatments of hazards

Consider the following hierarchy of treatment after risk assessment:

  1. Remove or move hazard.
  2. Modify hazard to be frangible.
  3. Install safety barrier.
  4. Improve delineation.

Lighting

Read the street lighting design guidelines PDF (319.3 KB).

Fencing

Install fencing to prevent wandering stock on roads.

Read the fences on rural road reserves policy PDF (75.7 KB).

Railing along shared paths

Avoid long sections of railing on shared paths.

Provide 0.5m wide shoulders and trafficable batters.

Speed enforcement

On all high-speed roads, consider provision for speed enforcement in consultation with NT Police.

Provisions include:

  • point to point camera infrastructure, including the provision of footings with associated structures and electrical supply, suitably placed for enforcement during the operation
  • construction of enforcement pads/bays for use by mobile speed camera vehicles/trailers encompassing electrical power supply with a concrete base at appropriate locations during and at the completion.

Rural roads

Aside from all the requirements above, the following also apply to rural roads.

Rural roads with annual average daily traffic of more than 300 and where there is a history of head-on crashes in the last 5 years, should have the below as a minimum requirement:

  • a wide centreline
  • audible tactile line marking (ATLM).

Review the crash history of run-off-road and overturned at the planning stage of a rural road project.

You should consider the below:

  • you must provide at least 1m sealed shoulders on the national network, and desirable on other roads
  • install ATLM along edge lines on all rural roads where there is a history of fatigue-related crashes
  • provide a clear zone.

On rural roads, you must:

  • for future intersection upgrade projects, replace auxiliary right-turn lanes with channelised right turn for high-speed roads. Further, construct dedicated left-turn lanes on high-speed roads.
    • A road with a speed limit above 80km/h is considered high-speed.
  • not block sight lines on an intersecting road approach at a high-speed intersection, where a high volume of left-turning traffic is present.
    • More than 150 vehicles are considered high-volume on a left-turn lane.

Depending on sight lines and traffic volumes, left-turn lanes may need to be repositioned or channelised.

For designing vehicle turning paths, consider side road throat widths for widening to allow stop/give way lines to be brought as far forward towards the edge of shoulder as possible, with an appropriate sealed area.

Contact

For more information, contact Aftab Abro at aftab.abro@nt.gov.au or call 08 8924 7121.

Version history

VersionDateAuthor Changes made
1 22 April 2022 Aftab Abro First release

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