A REVIEW OF ROAD SAFETY AUDIT PROCEDURES

Abstract

Roads occupy a place of importance in any economy because of their unique characteristics and distinctive features of connecting interior places, with its network for carrying persons and goods. The increase in traffic brings out problems of road traffic accidents. It has been estimated that over 3 lakh persons die and 100 to 150 lakh persons are injured every year in road accidents through out the world. The aspect of road safety though aimed at in any design process however does not cover all the requirements to ensure accident free sections in any road network. ROAD SAFETY AUDIT (RSA) is a process in which experts attempt to identify potentially dangerous features in the highway environment. "It is a formal examination of an existing or future road or traffic project, in which an independent, qualified team reports on the project's accident potential and safety performance" (Austroads 2001). Road safety audits are an efficient, cost effective and proactive approach to improving transportation safety. It is proved that RSA has the potential to save lives and ultimately money. Initiated in Great Britain (1980) RSA is well developed in countries like Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Denmark, Malaysia and Singapore. It is at varying stages of implementation in other nations like Thailand, India South Africa and Bangladesh. Many countries had developed the road safety audit procedures. Even though the main methodology adopted is almost same in all countries, they had developed their own checklists for RSA according to the local conditions. It is a question why all road authorities around the world are not practicing this process. Therefore there is every need to develop its own RSA methodology in a country like India where road traffic accidents are assuming epidemic proportions. This paper aims to promote RSA by briefly describing it and outlining some RSA procedures followed worldwide.