Road Safety Audits (RSA)

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INTRODUCTION

Background

Road Safety Audits (RSAs) are an effective tool for proactively improving roadway safety. The RSA process may be employed on any type of facility and during any stage of the project development process, including existing facilities that are open to traffic. A decade ago, few States had experience in conducting RSAs. Now, almost every State has had some experience with the RSA process.

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) defines an RSA as a "formal safety performance evaluation of an existing or future road or intersection by an independent, multidisciplinary team." The primary focus of an RSA is safety, while working within the context of other aspects, such as mobility, access, surrounding land use, and aesthetics. An RSA conducted by a team that is independent of the design and operations of the facility can address safety through a thorough review of roadway, traffic, environmental, and human factors conditions. By using an unbiased and multidisciplinary team to perform a comprehensive review and an evaluation of physical, operational, and human-factors-related safety issues for a given study area, RSAs make sure that safety is adequately considered.

RSAs typically follow the procedures outlined in the FHWA Road Safety Audit Guidelines document (Publication Number FHWA-SA-06-06). The procedures involve an eight-step RSA process that is shown in Figure 1 and can be done at any stage in a project's life:

• A pre-construction RSA (planning and design stages) examines a road before it is built, either at the planning/feasibility stage or the design (preliminary or detailed design) stage. An RSA at this stage identifies potential safety issues before crashes occur. The earlier a pre-construction RSA is conducted, the more potential it has to efficiently remedy possible safety concerns.
• Construction RSAs (work zone, changes in design during construction, and preopening) examine temporary traffic management plans associated with construction or other roadwork and changes in design during construction. RSAs at this stage can also be conducted when construction is completed, but before the roadway is opened to traffic.
• A post-construction or operational RSA (existing road) examines a road that is operating and is usually conducted to address a demonstrated crash problem.

Figure 1. Typical RSA Process.

The multidisciplinary RSA team is typically composed of at least three members having expertise in road safety, traffic operations, and road design. Other potential team members may have a background in (but not limited to) enforcement, emergency medical services, maintenance, human factors analysis, transportation planning, pedestrian safety, and bicyclist safety. It is important that members of the RSA team are independent of the design and operations of the facility being assessed. The RSA team's independence assures two things: 1) there is no bias in the assessment, and 2) the project is reviewed with "fresh eyes."

Purpose

The purpose of this document is to provide State, local, Federal, and Tribal agencies with examples of RSA programs and quantifiable results from RSA projects that can help in implementing RSAs and further their growth and success. This project evaluated nine sustained RSA programs and the improvements implemented as a result of five specific RSA projects. The RSA programs (shown in Table 3) were reviewed from a programmatic perspective to identify key factors for success, and the RSA projects were evaluated to quantify the safety effectiveness of the improvements suggested through the RSAs in reducing crashes. Table 4 provides a brief summary of the characteristics of the specific RSA projects evaluated. The evaluation consisted of a rigorous before-after analysis to measure the project's success through the development of benefit/cost (B/C) ratios, which describe the benefits derived from crash reduction versus the cost of conducting the RSA and implementing the recommended countermeasures. The methodology used in the analysis is described in Appendix A. Appendix B includes a project description, a summary of key findings and suggestions, and photographs to illustrate before and after conditions of each of the RSA projects evaluated. Specifics about why RSAs were initiated are also discussed.

Table 3. RSA Programs Evaluated.

Table 4. RSA Projects Evaluated.

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