
Crash data

Improving road safety
Our roads are among the most sophisticated in the world. The thousands of pieces of innovative technology used on our roads together create a ‘managed motorway’ system and help keep our roads free-flowing.
When an incident does occur, it is quickly identified and responded to by our traffic control room operators and incident response teams.
We use data collected by roadside technology, along with third-party data, to inform maintenance works and to identify opportunities to upgrade our roads and improve safety.
Data driven improvement
We analyse our data, and third-party data, to identify opportunities for improving the safety of our roads.
For example, we noticed a pattern of rear-end crashes occurring just before the citybound Punt Road and Batman Avenue exit on CityLink in Melbourne. By analysing CCTV footage of crashes in the area we determined these crashes were likely the result of sudden or late lane changing by motorists that was forcing vehicles behind to slow down or brake suddenly.
In 2021 we installed new, earlier signage and lane markers on the road. This gave drivers advanced warning to exit and more time to choose their preferred lane. The result was a 75% reduction in rear-end crashes and a 66% reduction in lane side swipes despite higher traffic volumes.

Safer driving
A driver's choices and behaviour can have a big impact on their safety, and that of those around them. We invest in research and partner with experts to examine how drivers can be safer on the road.
Risk-taking behind the wheel: latest Transurban research
Risk-taking while driving is a factor in serious-injury crashes. Our latest research, the 2023 Transurban Insights: Road Safety report, digs into the kinds of risks some drivers are taking. It also looks at what driving scenarios cause the most stress. For this research we surveyed around 1,700 respondents, all aged 18+ with a driver’s licence from Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane (Australia), the Greater Washington Area (United States) and Montreal (Canada).
Here’s a summary of our findings. For all the details, download the 2023 Transurban Insights: Road Safety report.
Transurban Road Safety Centre
Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA) partnership
The Transurban Road Safety Research Centre is operated via a multi-year partnership between Transurban and Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA), an independent, not-for-profit research institute conducting world-leading brain and nervous system research.
Learn more about this high-tech lab and its leading road safety research
Dive deeper into our driving behaviour data
Last year, our Insights research also focused on driving behaviours that impact road safety, including:
- driving near emergency vehicles
- driving through roadworks
- driving near heavy vehicles
- travelling safely with children.
What we found shows more education is needed on all four driving behaviours we explored. We also found that drivers don’t always realise they’re getting safety wrong. See our 2022 Transurban Insights: Road Safety report for details.