Review of International Road Safety Audit Manuals

African Development Bank Project 2014

John Barrell

Independent Road Safety Expert

Page 3

Clarification of Terminology

RSA is:

A systematic and formal examination process of a new road or highway improvement project, in which an independent and qualified team of road safety specialists identifies potential road safety problems from the point of view of all road users

Road Safety Assessment confused as RSA of an existing road

Still relies on some data analysis and related to Blackspot Analysis

Sometimes confused with Road Safety Inspection

RSI is an approach not reliant on data – so dealt with spearately

Includes iRAP methodology

Approach to Blackspot treatment varies between existing manuals

Relies heavily on crash data – known to be variable across Africa

Manual separates out data analysis from treatment

Includes Assessment to broaden application

providing practical manuals, tailored to African conditions that will support road safety practices in Africa over the next decade

Approach

• Review of Current International Practice

• Review of Current African Practice

• Identification of African localisation

• Develop manuals to fit a wide range of circumstances

• Develop a broad ranging training programme

• Activities undertaken in parallel

Page 4

Page 5

Source DocumentsInternational

Austroads road safety audit manual

Road Safety Manual PIARC (2003).

Road Safety Audit for Projects - An Operational Toolkit - ADB (2003)

Road Safety Audit Guidelines – CIHT UK (2008)

Manual of Road Safety Audit – Denmark (1997)

Road Safety Audit Guidelines for Safety Checks on New Projects - PIARC (2011)

Safety Manual for Secondary Roads –Pilot4Safety (2010)

HD 19/03 Road Safety Audit - UK (2003)

African

Manuel d’Intégration de la Sécurité Routière aux Projects Routiers - Benin (2007)

Road Safety Audit Manual (Draft) – Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (2004)

Manual of Road Safety Audit – Ghana (2002)

Design Manual for Roads and Bridges Part 1b) Road Safety Audit - Kenya (2009)

Guide d’Audit –Sécurité des Infrastructures Routières – Maroc (2003)

(Cont)

Page 6

Source DocumentsAfrican (cont)

Consultancy Services for Road Safety Audit of the Main Road Network Final Report –Mozambique (2010)

Guidelines for Mainstreaming Road Safety in Regional trade Corridors – SSATP (2013)

A Guide to Road Safety Auditing v7 – United Republic of Tanzania (2009)

South African Road Safety audit Manual (2nd Edition) – South Africa (2012)

Road Safety Audit Manual – Uganda (2004)

Page 12

Survey Results

Undertaken (30)

Manual (14)

Policy (9)

Guidance (11)

System (7)

Procedure (9)

No formal Documents

(14)

Don’t know (11)

Road Safety Audit

Maintenance (35)

Safety Assessment (audit)(24)

Safety Inspection (21)

Manual 17/10/11

Policy 11/13/12

Guidance 11/13/10

System 7/7/8

Procedure 10/8/9

No Formal Documents

14/19/17

Don’t know 11/8/10

Inspection

Undertaken (31)

Manual (6)

Policy (8)

Guidance (5)

System (6)

Procedure (11)

No formal Documents

(21)

Don’t know (12)

Blackspot Analysis

70 respondants with expereince in 42 African countries

Page 13

Safety Audit IssuesIssue

No

Shortfall in number of experienced local Road Safety Auditors

11

No legal requirement for RSA – RSA is voluntary 8

Lack of RSA training available to engineers 7

Not all schemes are subjected to RSA 6

Lack of funding 6

RSA is undertaken without a formal manual/methodology in place

5

Recommendations are not always incorporated into designs

5

Fundamental road safety issues will not be addressed adequately through RSA

3

Addressing RSA comments is not considered mandatory by designers

3

Insufficient budget available to implement all recommendations

3

Draft manual only in place 2

Manual not systematically followed2

Only pre-opening stage RSA is undertaken2

Issue No

Cost of undertaking RSAs is considered to be high

2

Quality of RSAs undertaken is low 2

Manual does not deal with all circumstances relevant across the country

1

Not all road authorities support RSA 1

Lower level road authorities do not apply RSA at all

1

Lack of continuity in personnel in roads authority means projects are not

completed1

Those trained in RSA do not go on to deliver RSA

1

Auditors have no work guarantee/continuity and are not required

to do follow up training1

Teams undertaking RSAs are not independent

1

The extent to which recommendations are incorporated into designs is not monitored

1

Engineers unable to translate recommendations into changes to designs

1

Designers believe Auditors delay projects and do not trust the process or consider it

to add value1

Unable to make the business case to support the recommendations

1

Open Discussion