Innovative intersection designs better aligning with safe system.

In response to continuing serious injury trauma at intersections, an in-depth investigation was completed of crashes at intersections in Victoria, Australia. Adopting a “green-fields” approach, a primary goal of the investigation was to determine the fundamental design principles required to create intersection designs that are better aligned with the Safe System philosophy. A key principle identified was the need to limit side impact crash speeds to under 50 km/h, recognising that the biomechanical tolerance of the human body exceeds its threshold when exposed to speeds greater than this. Minimising angles and conflict points were also identified as important principles. The investigation generated a number of existing and new designs that incorporate these principles. This paper presents some of these designs along with a general discussion on implementation possibilities of the designs. (Author/publisher