Road and vehicle safety technical advice

We provide independent road and vehicle safety technical advice to government, industry, insurers and organisations. Our work focuses on improving safety outcomes through evidence‑based analysis, including road design, vehicle safety, crash risk assessment, and policy insights.

We support a wide range of clients, including:

• Federal, state and local government agencies
• Transport authorities and road operators
• Industry bodies and private organisations
• Fleet operators and insurers
• Standards, research and policy development groups.

Advice may be provided for operational decision‑making, policy development, program design, or safety assurance.

We can assist with a range of issues, including:

• How road or vehicle design affects crash risk, injury outcomes and road user behaviour, across traditional vehicles, e‑mobility and emerging technologies
• How proposed or existing road design changes may influence safety performance, including during the development assessment process
• Evaluation of road safety interventions, trials or programs, including pilots involving autonomous or highly automated vehicles, to understand likely effectiveness, risks and unintended consequences
• How the introduction of new vehicle technologies (including automated, connected and micromobility vehicles) interacts with existing infrastructure, users and regulatory frameworks
• Whether existing infrastructure, operational practices or organisational systems align with Safe System principles, including as transport systems evolve
• Identification of safety risks, inconsistencies or gaps within current policies, standards or delivery models, including cross‑jurisdictional issues
• Support for development applications, including review of road safety implications and proposed mitigation measures
• Development or review of internal standards, procedures and technical guidance to improve consistency, clarity and defensibility
• Supporting organisational uplift of road safety culture, governance and decision‑making frameworks
• Interpretation of technical evidence, data and research, including insights from connected vehicle data, to support informed, practical decision‑making.

The advice I provide is informed by a combination of first‑hand experience examining real‑world crashes, applied engineering analysis, and over two decades of experience working across government, industry, research and consultancy.

This includes direct involvement in investigating crash causation and injury outcomes, as well as advising organisations at the forefront of emerging road safety challenges—including autonomous vehicle trials, e‑mobility policy development, and the use of connected vehicle data to explore safety questions that were previously difficult or impossible to answer.

That blend of practical crash investigation experience, systems‑level understanding and exposure to new technologies helps ensure advice is grounded in how road and transport systems actually perform in practice, not just how they are intended to operate. It supports advice that is practical, evidence‑based and focused on reducing the risk of serious injury and fatal outcomes as systems evolve.

Our approach is independent, evidence‑based and defensible. Depending on the task, this may involve:

• Review of relevant research, standards, guidelines and policy frameworks
• Analysis of crash, connected vehicle data or operational data
• Site inspections and assessment of real‑world conditions
• Consultation with internal and/or external stakeholders
• Application of engineering, human factors and Safe System principles
• Clear documentation of findings, assumptions and limitations

Advice is tailored to the client’s context and decision‑making needs.

We approach emerging safety challenges by focusing on how systems perform in real‑world conditions, rather than relying solely on the presence or absence of established standards. Where regulation or guidance is still developing, advice is grounded in Safe System principles, first‑hand crash investigation experience, and a clear understanding of how people interact with vehicles, infrastructure and rules in practice.

This allows risks, assumptions and uncertainties to be identified early, and supports decision‑making that is proportionate, transparent and defensible, particularly for trials, pilots and new mobility services operating ahead of fully settled regulatory frameworks.

Connected vehicle data can provide insight into how drivers and vehicles interact with the road network at scale, including speed choice, braking behaviour, lane positioning and responses to interventions. When used appropriately, it can help identify emerging risks, evaluate interventions, and explore safety questions that traditional crash data alone cannot readily answer.

Our role is to help organisations interpret these insights in context—understanding what the data can reliably indicate, where its limitations lie, and how it should be combined with engineering judgement, site knowledge and other evidence. This supports informed decision‑making without over‑reliance on any single data source.

Innovation and Safe System principles are not in conflict, but they do require careful alignment. New technologies and mobility services can offer safety benefits, but they can also introduce new risks or shift risk in unexpected ways if not considered within the broader system.

We focus on understanding how new technology changes exposure, behaviour and failure modes, and whether proposed solutions genuinely reduce the risk of serious injury and fatal outcomes. This helps ensure that innovation is introduced in a way that supports long‑term safety objectives, rather than undermining them through unintended consequences or misplaced confidence in technology alone.

Yes. We regularly provide technical input to support:

• National and state policy development
• Review or interpretation of standards and guidelines
• Development of technical guidance material
• Cross‑jurisdictional consistency reviews.