Road Safety
- Publication no: AP-G118-26
- ISBN: 978-1-923617-73-5
- Published: 15 October 2026
- PDF (free) Download
Austroads Pedestrian Safety Blueprint (the Blueprint) bridges the gap between the knowledge base on pedestrian safety and its application by practitioners across Australia and New Zealand.
The Blueprint responds to a clear need: progress in reducing pedestrian deaths plateaued over the decade to 2024, and current approaches are not on track to meet long-term road safety targets. The Blueprint connects practitioners to relevant current guidance and research by Austroads and others. It presents guiding principles, goals and priorities, and a structured approach to pedestrian safety planning. It provides practitioners with contemporary pedestrian safety practice across the elements of a Safe System.
The Blueprint includes advice on prioritisation, success factors, and monitoring and evaluation to ensure continuous improvement.
Key takeaways from this Blueprint are:
- Creation of a zero-harm system where people are safe when walking is possible; other cities and countries have done it.
- Current approaches are not enough; proven measures must be scaled-up and accelerated, while also doing things differently.
- Better pedestrian data is needed to understand risk and exposure, prioritise interventions, and monitor progress.
- A suite of effective initiatives is available across safe people, safe speeds, safe roads and paths, and safe vehicles.
The Blueprint is recommended to all Australasian transport agencies at the local, state, territory and national levels to strengthen their efforts to reduce pedestrian fatalities and serious injuries.
An infographic provides a visual overview of the Blueprint’s central messages and call to action.
- Summary
- 1. Introduction
- 1.1 Purpose
- 1.2 Scope
- 1.3 Out-of-scope
- 1.4 Terms and definitions
- 1.5 Methodology
- 1.6 Stakeholder engagement
- 2. Pedestrian Safety Context
- 2.1 Pedestrian characteristics
- 2.2 Critical role of walking
- 2.3 Pedestrian trauma overview
- 2.3.1 Pedestrian trauma guidance and research
- 2.3.2 Australian pedestrian deaths and hospitalisations
- 2.3.3 New Zealand pedestrian deaths and serious injuries
- 2.3.4 Over-represented pedestrian cohorts
- 2.3.5 Systemic risks leading to pedestrian trauma
- 2.3.6 Pedestrian trauma forecasts and vision zero modelling
- 2.4 Strategic context
- 2.5 Roles and responsibilities
- 3. Guiding Principles for Pedestrian Safety
- 3.1 Walking’s role is central
- 3.2 Pedestrians first
- 3.3 Target zero pedestrian trauma
- 3.4 Take a Safe System lens
- 3.5 Equity, inclusion and security
- 4. Pedestrian Safety Goals and Priorities
- 4.1 Pedestrian safety goals
- 4.2 Pedestrian safety in urban areas
- 4.3 Pedestrian safety in non-urban areas
- 5. Pedestrian Safety Planning
- 5.1 Overarching approaches and frameworks
- 5.1.1 Movement and Place
- 5.1.2 The Safe System principles
- 5.1.3 Charting Pathways to Zero: The Planning for Zero Framework
- 5.2 Pedestrian safety risk control hierarchy
- 5.2.1 Eliminate or reduce exposure to risk (prevention)
- 5.2.2 Reduce likelihood of conflict
- 5.2.3 Reduce severity of an outcome if a conflict occurs
- 5.3 Pedestrian safety strategy
- 5.4 Key success factors
- 5.4.1 Proactive and reactive approach
- 5.4.2 Community and stakeholder engagement
- 5.4.3 Intervention prioritisation criteria
- 5.4.4 Pace of implementation
- 5.4.5 Leveraging existing infrastructure and traffic signal programs
- 5.5 Monitoring and evaluation
- 5.1 Overarching approaches and frameworks
- 6. Pedestrian Data
- 6.1 Why pedestrian data matters for pedestrian safety
- 6.2 Pedestrian data guidance and research
- 6.3 Significant gaps in pedestrian data
- 6.3.1 Linking crash and hospital data for accuracy
- 6.3.2 Understanding where our networks are too frightening to go
- 6.3.3 Pedestrian exposure
- 6.3.4 Walking infrastructure
- 7. Safe People
- 7.1 Why this matters for pedestrian safety
- 7.2 Safe People guidance and research
- 7.3 Advice for practitioners
- 8. Safe Speeds
- 8.1 Why this matters for pedestrian safety8.1.1 Our silver bullet in urban areas
- 8.1.2 Why safer speeds?
- 8.1.3 The relationship between speed, crash energy and pedestrian trauma
- 8.2 Safe Speeds guidance and research
- 8.3 Advice for practitioners
- 8.4 Conclusion
- 8.1 Why this matters for pedestrian safety8.1.1 Our silver bullet in urban areas
- 9. Safe Roads and Paths
- 9.1 Why this matters for pedestrian safety
- 9.2 Safe roads guidance and research
- 9.3 Advice for practitioners
- 9.4 Safe paths
- 9.5 Safe mid-block crossings
- 9.6 Safe intersections
- 9.7 Conclusion
- 10. Safe Vehicles
- 10.1 Why this matters for pedestrian safety
- 10.2 Safe vehicles guidance and research
- 10.3 Advice for practitioners
- 10.4 Conclusion
- 11. Pedestrian Safety Statement
- References
- Appendix A Pedestrian Safety and Planning Resources
- A.1 Pedestrian trauma data
- A.2 Pedestrian safety
- A.3 Pedestrian planning
- A.4 Road safety
- A.5 Traffic management and road design
- Appendix B Road Safety Strategic Context
- B.1 Australia
- B.2 New Zealand
- Appendix C Progressing Pedestrian Safety Workshop Series
- C.1 Priority cohorts
- C.2 Priority locations in urban areas
- C.3 Priority initiatives in urban areas
- C.4 Non-urban locations in rural, regional and remote areas
- Appendix D Australasian Case studies
- D.1 Safe speed case studies
- D.2 Safe mid-block crossings case studies
- D.3 Safe roundabouts
- D.4 Safe intersections case studies
- D.5 Travel to school case studies
- D.6 Safe roads case studies