Safety audits guidelines

In 1996 the IHT Road Safety Audit guidelines were revised. 

Checklists are provided in HD 19/03 and in the IHT Safety Audit Guidelines. The common problems highlighted in Chapter 5 could be used as the basis for producing checklists. 

Only one feasibility stage Road Safety Audit was carried out. This stage is not included in the Road Safety Audit Standard but is suggested in the current IfTT Safety Audit Guidelines. 

Pedestrian Road Safety Audit Guidelines and Prompt Lists http //drusilla.hsrc.unc.edu/ cms/downloads/PedRSA.reduced.pdf (accessed August 18, 2010). U.S. Federal Highway Administration. Outlines basic concepts used in conducting pedestrian road safety audits. The guidelines provide detailed descriptions of potential pedestrian safety issues. 

All of the versions of the IHT s Road Safety Audit guidelines described above were produced before the institution gained chartered status in 2009. It is now known as the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation (CIHT). Following the pubh-cation of HD 19/15, the CIHT is considering a further revision of its Road Safety Audit guidelines. 

HD 19/15 provides advice and guidance on how to undertake Road Safety Audits on trunk roads (including motorways). On local road schemes there is more flexibility in the way Road Safety Audits are undertaken, and more advice can be found in the Institution of Highways and Transportation (IHT) Road Safety Audit guidelines (IHT, 2008). Some local authorities have their own procedures for carr3ring out Road Safety Audits in their own areas. However, there are six fundamental principles that should always be applied when carrying out Road Safety Audits, regardless of the jurisdiction. 

For schemes on local roads, the use of quality audits and a balanced design approach as advocated in the latest IHT Road Safety Audit guidelines could be adopted to reach a final decision. 

In order to defend a claim, the defendant authority wiU probably need to demonstrate that it has carried out the Road Safety Audit in line with industry standards. It may be possible to demonstrate that the Road Safety Audit had been carried out in line with a lesser standard , provided that it can be shown that the lesser standard has been prepared in accordance with a formal local policy drawn up to allocate scarce resources effectively. For this reason, local authorities are advised to examine the Road Safety Audit standard HD 19/15 and to decide which aspects they wish to adopt formally. They should then write local procedures explaining where and why they depart from the standard, and should have those procedures adopted by local politicians as a formal policy. Good advice on producing a local Road Safety Audit procedure is given in the Institution of Highways and Transportation s Road Safety Audit guidelines (IHT, 2008). 

Austroads has recently embarked on a comprehensive review of the Road Safety Audit guidelines. This review seeks to update Road Safety Audit practice by incorporating the current safe system idea into Road Safety Audit practice and developing a nationally consistent training and accreditation regime to improve the competence and expertise of audit teams. 

The first Road Safety Audit guidelines were produced in New Zealand in 1993. The country then adopted the Austroads guidelines referred to above. 

Road Safety Audit guidelines were produced for the Direccion Nacional de Vialidad (DNV, National Road Administration of Argentina) as part of a technical assistance project funded by the World Bank. The application of Road Safety Audits is included in the DNV s Strategic Highway Safety Plan. 

The Road Safety Audit guidelines have two companion manuals Manual de Prdcticas Inadecuadas (MPI, Bad Practices Manual) and the Manual de Diseno Vial Seguro Safe Road Design Manual). The MPI identifies ten types of bad practice that should be avoided. 

Road Safety Audit guidelines and procedures were introduced in 2008 for internal roads by the Municipality of Abu Dhabi City (2008). In 2010, the Abu Dhabi Government produced Road Safety Audit Procedures for Main Roads (Abu Dhabi Department of Transport, 2010). Both procedures were based on a combination of guidance taken from the UK and the USA, and require practising Road Safety Auditors to meet minimum training and experience requirements similar to those outlined in the UK s Safety Audit standard. 

FHWA (Federal Highway Administration) (2006) Road Safety Audit Guidelines. FHWA, Washington, DC, USA. FHWA-SA-06-06). 

Qatari Government (2011) Road Safety Audit Guidelines and Procedures for the State of Qatar. Qatari Government, Qatar. 

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