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Road Safety Audit Brochure PDF (2,984 KB)

Road Safety Audits

"Saving Lives Saving Money"

This is a photo of a rural 2-lane road in Massachusetts that curves to the right. After a 4 ft shoulder on the right side of the roadway is a curb, a 2-foot sidewalk and then the guardrail, which is overgrown with shrubs. There are utility poles just behind the guardrail.

" The Road Safety Audit process is valuable from a perspective of identifying deficiencies, developing mitigative strategies, improving public relations and enhancing our agency's credibility."

Bernie Arseneau
Director, Office of Traffic, Security and Operations
Minnesota Department of Transportation

Definition

Road Safety Audit (RSA)
A road safety audit is a formal safety performance examination of an existing or future road or intersection by an independent audit team.

Typical Improvements

Road Safety Audits can be used in any phase of project development from planning to construction. RSAs can also be used on any size project from minor maintenance to mega-projects. Typical improvements suggested include:

  • Removal of sight distance obstructions
  • Addition/design changes to turn lanes
  • Improvement to acceleration/deceleration lane design
  • Illumination
  • Median barrier placement
  • Consideration of pedestrian's ability to cross a street
  • Improvements to superelevation
  • Drainage improvements
  • Roadway shoulder and lane width modifications
  • Access management/consolidation of driveways
  • Realignment of intersection approaches

Steps to Conduct RSA's

  1. Identify project or existing road to be audited (Responsibility - Design Team/Project Owner)
  2. Select interdisciplinary audit team (Responsibility - Design Team/Project Owner)
  3. Conduct a Pre-audit meeting to review project information and drawings(Responsibility - Audit Team and Design Team/Project Owner)
  4. Perform field reviews under various conditions(Responsibility - Audit Team)
  5. Conduct audit analysis and prepare report of findings (Responsibility - Audit Team)
  6. Present Audit findings to Project/Owner Design Team (Responsibility - Audit Team and Design Team/Project Owner)
  7. Prepare formal response (Responsibility - Audit Team)
  8. Incorporate findings into the project when appropriate (Responsibility - Design Team/Project Owner)
Before RSA
Before RSA photo: This is a photo of an intersection in Grand Rapids, Michigan, before a road safety audit was conducted. The 2 traffic signal heads are hung on a diagonal span of wire and they are not hung over the travel lanes. There are two lanes approaching the intersection separated by a dashed white pavement marking. A double yellow line designates the centerline of the road. 		After RSA
After RSA photo: This is a photo of an intersection in Grand Rapids, Michigan, after a road safety audit was conducted. The traffic signals are now hung on a box span of wire and they are now able to be hung directly over the travel lanes. Now there are three traffic signal heads, two for the through lane and one for the left turn lane. Pavement markings now show a separate left-turn lane at the intersection. A double yellow line designates the centerline of the road.

Keys to Successful Implementation

  • Agency support and willingness to incorporate audit findings

  • Small multidisciplinary audit team consisting of 3 to 5 people (may include highway/traffic safety, traffic engineering, planning, geometric design, construction, maintenance, human factors, and enforcement)

  • Conduct the audit at the earliest possible stage from minor maintenance to mega-projects.

  • Willingness to investigate new ideas outside the traditional scope of work Removal of sight distance obstructions

Benefits

  • Helps produce designs that reduce the number and severity of crashes
  • May reduce costs by identifying safety issues and correcting them before projects are built
  • Promotes awareness of safe design practices
  • Integrates multimodal safety concerns
  • Considers human factors in all facets of design

Q:

 Why should we conduct Road Safety Audits?...We already do safety reviews." clip art of man sitting at work desk

A:

"RSAs are different from existing safety reviews in most States because RSAs are proactive, consider all road users and all factors that may contribute to a crash, include day and night field reviews, and are conducted by a multidisciplinary and independent team"

 

" We review RSAs as a proactive low cost approach to improve safety. The RSAs helped our engineering team develop a number of solutions incorporating measures that were not originally included in the projects. The very first audit conducted saved SCDOT thousands of dollars by correcting a design problem."

Terecia Wilson
Director of Safety
South Carolina Department of Transportation

Resources

Comprehensive Website
www.roadwaysafetyaudits.org

 

"We have implemented RSAs on proposed resurfacing projects. Previously, very few safety improvements were incorporated into our resurfacing projects. We now see our staff consistently looking for an implementing numerous low cost safety improvements on Iowa's roads"

Thomas M. Welch, P.E.
State Transportation Safety Engineer
Iowa Department of Transportation

 

Road Safety Audit Training

NATIONAL HIGHWAY INSTITUTE

Course: 380069A
Title: Road Safety Audits and Road Safety Audit Reviews

www.nhi.fhwa.dot.gov
703-235-0528

For more information, please contct FHWA's Office of Safety Design at 202-366-1795.

FHWA-SA-04-004

 
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