Written by

Lachlan Raso

Road Safety Audits explained

Road Safety Audits (RSA) are a critical component of any road infrastructure project.

An RSA is defined by Austroads Guide to Road Safety (AGRS) Part 6 as a formal examination of a future road or traffic project or an existing road, in which an independent, qualified team reports on the project’s crash potential and actual safety performance.

Here we will discuss what a Road Safety Audit entails and how Marvel Engineers can help you.

What does a road safety audit look like?

Road Safety Audits (RSAs) play a crucial role in ensuring that safety considerations, consistent with the Safe System approach, are woven into every transportation project. By conducting RSAs early in the planning and design phases, we’re essentially putting on our safety glasses and scrutinising every detail to prevent potential hazards down the road.

Key features of a road safety audit involve:

identification of risks and hazards to all road user groups.
suggested treatments to mitigate identified risks.
a minimum of two independent auditors.
a proactive process with the aim of preventing future crashes.

It is also important to distinguish Road Safety Audits from other project processes.

RSAs are NOT:

a check of compliance with technical standards and/or guidelines.
an assessment of the overall merits of a road project.
a substitute for design Quality Assurance/Quality Control.

RSAs are like the safety checkpoints of a project. By performing them at the outset we’re setting the stage for a safer journey. RSAs force us to think safety-first. We’re not just concerned about aesthetics or functionality; we’re actively seeking out anything that could compromise safety.

Conducting an RSA early in the planning phase helps identify potential weak spots, such as a design flaw that could lead to visibility issues or a traffic flow problem. By catching these issues upfront, we’re preventing costly rework later. RSAs are an investment in efficiency. Spending a little time and effort upfront always pays off in the long run.

What are we trying to achieve with road safety audits?

An RSA’s main purpose is to reduce the number of fatal and serious injuries. This is achieved through assessing a road’s safety performance and identifying hazards or potential crash types. They can, and should, be implemented in all phases of a project lifecycle.

But did you know that each audit will have different objectives, depending on the phase of the project?

Here we examine the objectives across the different phases.

Feasibility audits

Examine any issues with the strategic planning undertaken to date that might compromise safety.
Ensure that all road user groups, including pedestrians, cyclists and heavy vehicles have been considered.
Influence fundamental issues such as connectivity, and impact on continuity within the existing adjacent network.

Preliminary design audits

Conduct day and night site safety audits focusing on how the proposed layout will interact with existing conditions.
Identify any safety risk and hazards.
Consider the appropriateness of design applications/packages, standards and guidelines, and alignment with safe system principles.
Identify unusual features, such as painted pavement art, where some degree of engineering judgement is likely to be required.

Detailed design

Review design details not previously available at preliminary design.
Identify any new safety risks and hazards.
Confirm that the safety intent of the preliminary design is preserved.
Provide recommendations to the design team to finalise their design and incorporate safety improvements in construction documentation.

Pre-opening audits

Conduct a site-based audit to identify any safety risks and hazards (both day and night).
An opportunity for risks and hazards to be rectified prior to the opening of the project to live traffic.

Immediate post-opening audits

A site-based audit undertaken within a short period of the opening of a completed project (both day and night).
These audits can assist with evaluating the effectiveness of innovative solutions and/or how a project operates in practice during peak periods.

Existing road audits

A site-based audit, undertaken on an existing road to identify safety issues that may affect or are affecting its usage (both day and night).
Identify locations for mass action treatments.
Identify maintenance issues that may make the roadway less safe.
Assess the adequacy of traffic management features, consistency of the road environment and implications of infrastructure ageing over time.

The Road Safety Audit process

A common misconception is that designing purely to standards and guidelines guarantees safety.

While our standards are an important starting point, it doesn’t guarantee that a design will be risk-free. There are nuances to each project that can impact the safety of road users. This is why undertaking road safety audits early in the design phase can help to highlight and mitigate potential issues.

Each RSA follows a set process. Once you’ve decided to undertake an RSA on your project, there are several critical steps the project team and key stakeholders need to carry out. Austroads Guide to Road Safety Part 6 describes these steps as:

Commissioning phase: Develop the audit brief, select the audit team and provision of background information.
Conducting phase: Provide background information (design drawings, traffic data or crash history), conduct the site audit, assess safety issues and develop the audit report.
Completion and implementation phase: Hold a completion meeting, review and respond to proposed treatments, and issue a revised design based on corrective actions.

When applied across the project lifecycle, Road Safety Audits are one of the most effective tools we have to proactively improve safety outcomes for all road users.