Road Safety Auditing

Presented by: Eng. Yousef Abu Jubba

 Contents

1 RSA Definition

2 Objectives

3 Criteria of auditors

4 Stages of RSA
 Definition
Road Safety Audit may be defined as the
formal examination of the planning, design
and construction of road projects,

And of the characteristics and operation of an

existing road,

By independent and qualified examiners,

To identify any potentially unsafe feature or

operational arrangement that may adversely
effect the safety of any road user.
 Objectives
The goal of the RSA is translated into the
following objectives:

 The identification of potential safety hazards on new road

projects, at the appropriate stage, so that they can be
eliminated or otherwise treated to mitigate their adverse
effects, at minimum cost.

 The identification of hazardous features of an existing road

so that they can be eliminated or otherwise treated before
they become accident prone locations.
 Cont.
 To ensure that the safety requirements of all road
users are explicitly considered in the planning,
design, construction and operation of road
projects.

 To reduce the overall through life costs of a road

project to the community.
 Criteria of auditors
Skills and Experience are required.
• Usually people competent and experienced in the work
associated with traffic accident investigations and
countermeasures have most of the basic skills required for the
road safety audit.
Independence of Auditors.
• The credibility and effectiveness of RSA is greatly influenced
by the degree of independence of the auditors from the
planning, design or construction teams involved in the
development of the project.
 Cont.
Accreditation of auditors.
• The individual people undertaking a RSA must have an
accreditation for this work and be identified in the Audit
Report which this accreditation be based on an assessment of
the person’s knowledge of road safety principles, practices ,
training courses and general knowledge and experience in road
and highway engineering.
Arrangements for doing the audit.
• The arrangement for doing the project during the stages is
involved three parties : The designer of the project
(Contractor), The client (Road authority, represented by the
Project manager) and The auditor (Consultant engaged by the
client).
 Stages of RSA

Stage 5:
RSA of an Stage 1:
Road Safety Audit
existing Feasibility
road & Planning
Stage

Stage 4:
The pre-
opening RSA
Stage
Stage 2:
Draft
(Preliminary)
Stage 3: Design Stage
Detailed
Design
Stage
 Cont.
 Feasibility & Planning Stage:
• It’s the earliest recognized stage and may not be applicable
where this stage will identify safety problems associated with
the overall concept for a project, road network safety
implications, route options, intersection and interchanges types
and locations.
 Draft Design Stage:
• It is at this stage that many of the traffic engineering features
of a project are established. Most of these, such as cross
section elements, intersection/interchange layout, lane and
carriageway layout, traffic control options and alignment
standards.
 Cont.
 Detailed Design Stage:
• In carrying out detailed design, designers are continually making
balances and judgments to the project. This stage will test the
design decisions made against road safety objectives and also
identify potential hazards resulting from adverse combinations of
choosing a series of design criteria.
 The Pre-opening Stage:
• Audit at this stage involves all site inspections of a project. The
actual placement of items such as guard railing, traffic signing,
street lighting, landscapes etc… should be given to checking that
the respective needs of all road user groups meet desirable safety
standards which that will be the last chance to make sure that the
project opens to traffic in the best condition to provide safe and
efficient operations.
 Cont.

 RSA of An Existing Road:

• An audit at this stage will identify safety problems which
develop due to the normal `wear and tear` from traffic
operations and also identify hazards due to the way the
landscaping has matured, e.g. trees and foliage obstructing
traffic signs or sight distance impaired which correct potential
hazards before accident occur due to them.