Transurban has a strong focus on providing a safe and healthy environment for its employees, contractors, customers, and the community. To support its focus on vehicle safety, Transurban revised its safe arrival model to a safe clearance model for incident response, including its fleet of tow trucks. During this revision an opportunity was identified to go above and beyond current vehicle marking standards to improve visibility of vehicles and in turn increase the safety of crews and road users. This saw Transurban introduce conspicuity markings on its fleet of incident response vehicles. Conspicuity markings are retroreflective markers that highlight the contoured shape of a vehicle from various angles. They play an important role in increasing visibility to prevent crashes on the road, particularly during low-light conditions or when vehicles are pulled over to the side of the road.
By developing and implementing a standard that required conspicuity markings on all its vehicles, Transurban aimed to improve safety for its employees and contractors, as well as motorists. By allowing incident response vehicles to be highly visible as emergency response vehicles, they are able to get to incidents quickly and safely. It also makes it easier for other motorists to see Transurban vehicles during low-visibility conditions or when they are stationary at the roadside. Conspicuity markings help prevent collisions and keep both vehicle operators and the motoring public safe.
This case study briefly explores Transurban’s use of conspicuity markings, how they were implemented, and their impact on employee and motorist safety.