Australia’s environmental and topographic diversity presents a range of unique challenges for construction as well as development projects. Throughout these projects, the best practices around road control vary based on a range of factors, most notably zoning and density.
It’s important to hire an Australian security company that understands how to approach control schemes adaptively. To do this, they must understand how public access and efficiency is already being balanced in different environments. This primer goes over how urban and rural settings are currently managed in adherence to Australia’s traffic control regulations and standards.
| URBAN | RURAL | |
| GOALS | Managing congestion and different traffic types | Reduction of human error and forgiving infrastructure |
| SPEED CONFIGURATION | Use of variable speed limits (VSL) to maintain flow hierarchies | High limits geared toward the efficient movement of goods and travellers between states |
| PRIORITISATIONS | Pedestrians and public transportation | Heavy and industrial vehicles |
Urban Environments: Beyond the Flow of Motorists
In major cities like Brisbane and Sydney, the primary issue to manage is the combined movement or “friction” between various groups. The most notable of these are pedestrians, commuters, and public transport vehicles. Cities cram each of these groups in significantly more volume onto its road systems, unlike in rural areas where density is lower on average. This can be handled via two main methodologies:
- Adaptive signal control as seen in Sydney’s Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System (SCATS). This monitors vehicle flow in real time using inductive loops or sensors to ensure the prevention of bottlenecks — adjusting signal timings as needed to keep large public transport vehicles like trams or buses moving faster than private cars.
- Throughput optimisation models that classify streets by role, such as the Movement and Place Framework. As the nomenclature suggests, the defining criteria for classification are “movement” in high vehicle volume roadways like Parramatta Road in NSW, and “places” where foot traffic is dominant such as shopping centres or residential areas. In the former, efficiency is prioritised, while amenity and safety are emphasised in the latter.
Balancing Distances and Speed in Rural Areas
Despite markedly lower traffic volumes, the majority of road fatalities occur in Australia’s regional and rural corridors. Authorities claim this comes down mainly to human error, such as in the case of industrial truck drivers becoming drowsy or distracted during long-haul drives across the country. The damage potential around human potential is currently mitigated via the following measures:
- Management of unsealed roads such as gravel or dirt corridors, which comprise thousands of kilometres across the country. These must be kept safe with aggressive speed limitations via zoning, as well as various dust suppression treatments that keep visibility from being impaired.
- Safety optimisations to create forgiving infrastructure, ensuring human error on rural roads don’t result in fatalities. These include wire rope barriers for absorbing impact and corralling vehicles from trees or embankments, audio tactile line markings (ATLMs) for alerting inattentive drivers that they’re veering off their lanes, and widening of the centreline to increase the gap between opposing flows, and keep head-on collisions as rare as possible.
- Planning around fatigue management with the strategic placement of so-called “driver reviver” stops and rest areas. These can be instrumental in keeping fatalities low, particularly when holidays cause spikes in motorist volume.
Making Use of Existing Innovations
Existing regulations and standards aside, traffic management providers can also make use of current technologies in play across the country. Virtual fencing for wildlife management and smart freeways that utilise coordinated ramp signalling (e.g. Kwinana freeway in Perth) are just two examples of innovations that can make the job much easier. Whether working in rural or urban environments, managers are well served by a solid grasp on local laws, national regulations, and existing technologies in order to get the job done.
