FHWA Road Safety Audit Guidelines
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Case Study 2
Road Safety Audit Program:
South Carolina Department of Transportation
The South Carolina Department of Transportation (SC DOT) has established a
Road Safety Audit (RSA) program. Following development of all of the management
policies, program structure, training, and implementation guidelines, the SC DOT had a goal of conducting audits on 10 projects per year. To achieve this
goal an Advisory Committee was established that included engineering directors
for such activities as traffic, construction and safety, and district engineering
administrators.
The Advisory Committee was responsible for overseeing program development, training,
goals and visions, and implementation. The following activities are included
in the overall program:
• The Advisory Committee solicited interest from all State technical staff
for possible participation in RSA training. Sixty staff members were selected
for training and 2-year terms as road safety auditors.
• Annually, staff submits applications for project road safety audits.
The Advisory Committee selects the widest array of projects possible, including
projects from different areas of the State, on different types of road facilities,
in different stages of development,
and that are either typical or unusual.
• With training complete and projects selected, the RSA Coordinator arranges
teams and completes logistics (e.g., travel, scheduling, billings, etc.) for
each of the audits.
• The audit team travels to the site, conducts field visits, reviews project
documentation, and meets with the District Engineering Administrator. Subsequently,
the audit team prepares an audit report documenting findings and recommendations
in priority order.
• The District Engineering Administrator then has 45 days to prepare a
formal written response to the audit report. This response outlines what will
and won't be implemented and provides justification for each decision; thus documenting the
actions of the “reasonable and prudent engineer.”
The SC DOT has conducted 11 audits (2 on new facilities, 5 on facilities under
construction, and 4 on existing facilities). The response to the audits has been positive
and it is anticipated that the RSA program will continue to grow.
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