U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20590
202-366-4000
These guidelines are intended to promote the implementation of RSAs in the United States.
The primary purpose of this guideline is to provide a foundation for public agencies to draw upon when developing their own Road Safety Audit (RSA) policies and procedures and when conducting RSAs within their jurisdiction. The availability of a consistent guideline is anticipated to lead to a better understanding of the core concepts of RSAs and to promote their use.
These guidelines were developed by building upon experiences gained in the
United States and in other countries. They are meant to present basic RSA principles,
to encourage public agencies to implement RSAs, and to embrace them as part
of their everyday
practice. When used they should be tailored to suit local conditions.
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 multidisciplinary safety management system aimed at improving safety.
As such, RSAs are not a replacement for:
What are Road Safety Audits.
Confusing RSAs with the quality control of design is the most common misinterpretation
of the role and nature of an RSA. Compliance with design standards, while important,
does not necessarily result in an optimally safe road design and, conversely,
failure to achieve compliance with standards does not necessarily result in
a design that is unacceptable from a safety perspective.
What are road safety audits?
RSAs are:
What road safety audits are NOT!
RSAs are:
The aim of an RSA is to answer the following questions:
