Understanding the Road Safety Implications of Bus Priority Measures in Melbourne

This paper summarises findings on the road safety performance and bus incidents in Melbourne along roads where bus priority measures had been applied. Results from an Empirical Bayes safety evaluation showed a 14% reduction in accidents (significant at 90% level). An empirical analysis of the incident types revealed significant changes in the proportion of incidents involving buses hitting stationary objects and vehicles, which suggest the effect of bus priority addressing manoeuvrability issues for buses. A mixed-effects Negative Binomial regression modelling of bus incidents considering wider influences on incident rates at a route section level also showed significant safety benefits when bus priority is provided. A major implication of this research is that bus priority in this context acts to improve road safety and should be a major consideration for road management agencies when implementing bus priority and road schemes.