Road Safety Audits: The North American Experience

This paper describes how Road safety audits (RSAs) are a relatively new safety tool in North America. Since the first safety reviews in 1997, audits have become an accepted part of the design process for many large and/or safety-driven projects in Canada. In the United States, the FHWA is encouraging their use in federal, state, and municipal road projects. This paper discusses the application of RSAs in Canada and the United States, and the outlook for their future application. Recent milestones on the RSA road include the publication of the Canadian Road Safety Audit Guide (Transportation Association of Canada, 2001), and the first design-stage audit of a mega-project in the United States (the US$800 million Marquette Interchange in Milwaukee, in 2003). The paper discusses the evolution of audits in North America, and how the RSA process and report is changing in response to factors such as severe time constraints, owners’ and design teams’ attitudes, liability concerns, and safety concerns associated with sub-classes of road users such as cyclists and older drivers. This paper may be of interest to agencies who are inaugurating a RSA program in their jurisdictions, and to those sharing an interest in the progress and evolution of this versatile safety technique pioneered in the U.K. and Australia.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/1933452080
• Corporate Authors:

  Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE)

  Washington, DC  United States 

  ARRB

  Melbourne, Victoria  Australia 
• Authors:
  • Zein, Sany R
  • Gibbs, Margaret
  • Navin, Frank
• Conference:
  • ITE 2005 Annual Meeting and Exhibit Compendium of Technical Papers
  • Location: Melbourne , Australia
  • Date: 2005-8-7 to 2005-8-10
• Publication Date: 2005

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: CD-ROM; Tables;
• Pagination: 7o
• Monograph Title: ITE 2005 Annual Meeting and Exhibit Compendium of Technical Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Aged drivers; Cyclists; Design; Highway safety; Safety; Safety audits; State departments of transportation; Transportation planning
• Geographic Terms: Australia; North America; United Kingdom
• Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Safety and Human Factors; I10: Economics and Administration;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01006817
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 1933452080
• Files: TRIS, ATRI
• Created Date: Oct 22 2005 1:11PM