Road Safety Audits

This work tackles the formal road safety audit process and contains examples of real road safety problems. It is backed up by accident research, together with examples of successful solutions, supported by comprehensive advice.

TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 336: Road Safety Audits examines the state of the practice of road safety audit (RSA) and road safety audit review applications for U.S. states and Canadian provinces. This synthesis also reviews international RSA practices. RSAs were first introduced in the United Kingdom more than 20 years ago and have been applied in New Zealand and Australia since the 1990s.

Research indicates that up to 28% of crashes are due to the road environment. The most important objective of road safety audit is to minimize crashes, and to minimize the severity of any crashes that may occur on a new road project. The series of CAREC road safety engineering manuals came from the endorsement of the CAREC Road Safety Strategy 2017–2030 by member countries. The strategy supports and encourages CAREC authorities to plan, design, construct, and maintain safe roads. This manual also explains the road safety audit process as it can apply in CAREC road projects. It provides information about the audit process for those who undertake the audits (practitioners) and for those who manage the audit process (policy makers).

The Canadian Guide to In-service Road Safety Reviews is a practical guide for conducting reviews on existing roads, based on the current experience and expertise in Canada and internationally. A companion guide to TAC's Canadian Road Safety Audit Guide, this publication provides guidelines to traffic practitioners on how to upgrade the operational and physical characteristics of existing in-service roads to be more compatible with current traffic conditions and safety knowledge.

This manual sets out how to combine road safety audits with the International Road Assessment Programme methodology to form Star Ratings for Road Safety Audit. This ratings system will help policy makers and practitioners involved in designing, upgrading, and rehabilitating roads to meet safety targets and reduce injuries from traffic accidents