What Is A Road Safety Audit?
A Road Safety Audit (RSA) is a formal safety performance examination of an existing or future road or intersection by an independent audit team. The RSA team considers the safety of all road users, qualitatively estimates and reports on road safety issues and opportunities for safety improvement
An RSA is a formal safety performance examination of an existing or future road or intersection by an independent audit team. It qualitatively estimates and reports on potential road safety issues and identifies opportunities for improvements in safety for all road users.
RSAs represent an additional tool within the suite of tools that currently make up a multi-multidisciplinary safety management system aimed at improving safety.
As Such, RSAs Are Not a Replacement For
- Design quality control or standard compliance checks also known as “safety reviews of design”
- Traffic impact or safety impact studies
- Safety conscious planning
- Road safety inventory programs
- Traffic safety modeling efforts
The Aim of an RSA is to Answer the Following Questions
- What elements of the road may present a safety concern: to what extent, to which road users, and under what circumstances?
- What opportunities exist to eliminate or mitigate identified safety concerns?
Benefits Of RSA Program
- • RSAs pro-actively address safety
• RSA audited designs should produce fewer, less severe crashes.
• RSAs identify low-cost/high-value improvements.
• RSAs enhance consistency in how safety is considered and promote a “safety culture.”
• RSAs provide continuous advancement of safety skills and knowledge.
• RSAs contribute feedback on safety issues for future projects.
• RSAs support optimized savings of money, time, and – most importantly – lives.
What Type of Project Benefits From RSAs?
One approach to determining what types of projects may benefit from RSAs is through the application of nominal and substantive safety concepts, where nominal safety refers to compliance with standards and substantive safety refers to crash performance. The examples below illustrate the application of these concepts to existing roads:
- An intersection or road segment that does not meet current design standards(nominal safety issues) and also has a poor record of safety performance substantive safety issues) should be considered a high-priority candidate for the RSA as the potential for safety improvement, and the likelihood of its achievement, is also high.
- An intersection or road segment that meets current design standards (no nominal safety issues) but has a poor record of safety performance (substantive safety issues) should also be considered a priority candidate for RSA as the potential for safety improvement, and the likelihood of its achievement is significant.
- An intersection or road segment that does not meet current design standards (nominal safety issues) but has a satisfactory record of safety performance (no substantive safety issues), should be considered as a lower priority candidate for an RSA relative to those above, which exhibit substantive safety issues, as the potential for safety improvement, and the likelihood of its achievement, is low to moderate.
Essential Elements of an RSA in Pointers
- Formal examination: RSAs are a formal examination of the design components and the associated operational effects of a proposed or existing roadway from a safety perspective.
- Team review: RSAs are performed by a team of auditors with a variety of experience and expertise.
- Independent RSA team: The audit team members must be independent of the design team or facility owner.
- Qualified team: The auditors must have the appropriate qualifications specific to the RSA.
- Focus on road safety issues: The principal focus of the RSA is to identify potential road safety issues caused by the design.
- Includes all road users: The RSA should consider all appropriate vehicle types/modes and all other potential road users.
- Proactive nature: The nature of an RSA should be proactive and not reactive.
- Qualitative nature: The primary products of an audit are qualitative in nature, rather than quantitative.
- Field reviews: RSAs are much more effective when they include day and night field reviews.
Conclusion
In the realm of road safety, knowledge, and proactive measures play pivotal roles in safeguarding the lives of countless road users. The Road Safety Audit (RSA) emerges as a powerful addition to the arsenal of tools within our multidisciplinary safety management system. By subjecting existing and future roads or intersections to thorough examinations conducted by independent audit teams, RSAs offer a comprehensive evaluation of safety performance that encompasses the needs of all who traverse these pathways.
