ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF SRIP 3 – A ROAD SAFETY INFRASTRUCTURE PROGRAM FOR VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA (Paper 912)

This paper presents the economic benefits gained from the implementation and completion of the AU$650 million Safer Road Infrastructure Program Stage 3 (SRIP3) in Victoria between 2007 and 2013. The program was evaluated by the Monash University Accident Research Centre in 2016 (1) and the results were used in this paper to demonstrate the contribution of this program to the economy of Victoria. 
Safe roads have been demonstrated to contribute to a country’s prosperity by facilitating the movements of people and goods in a safe and efficient way. Unsafe roads cause road crashes which cause financial loss to both individuals and companies, employers and employees, leading to loss of business opportunities and reduction of the nation’s gross income, and these are in addition to the pain and suffering the victims and others have to endure. In the past two decades, Victoria has continuously invested in road infrastructure improvements to reduce serious casualties on its road network via various road safety infrastructure programs including this SRIP 3 and the current AU$1.4 billion Safe System Road Infrastructure Program. Victoria’s road network has progressively become safer for the transport of goods and people as well as providing a safer work environment for many employees including those whose job is driving. In short, Victoria has enjoyed a large reduction of crashes/casualties since these investments, and at the same time, experienced unprecedentedly strong economic growth.