Road safety audit testing period; A qualitative evaluation of seven test audits for improving their content and procedures. A road safety audit is conducted in the various stages of planning the design and lay-out of roads. The audit is conducted in order to examine the possible effects of these plans on road safety. Road safety audits are being used in more and more European and non-European countries. A road safety audit instrument was also developed and implemented for the Starting Programme Sustainably Safe in the Netherlands. The Netherlands Transport Research Centre (AVV), an agency of the Dutch Ministry of Transport and Public Works, commissioned the Institute for Road Safety Research (SWOV) to develop a preliminary procedure for this programme. This procedure was then applied during a so-called testing period, the objective being to perfect the instrument in terms of its content and procedures. This report provides an account of this testing period. The report begins with a brief explanation of the road safety audit and the auditing procedures. Next, the projects that were subjected to an audit during the testing period, the findings of the report, and the commissioning agency’s reactions to these findings are described. The report gives an account of seven test projects in which municipalities, provinces and the national government acted as the commissioning road authorities. Each of the audits was conducted only during a single planning stage. In two projects, this was during a categorizing stage; in two projects, this was during a general design stage; and in three projects, this was during a detailed design stage. The stages just previous to and a few weeks after the reopening or opening of the road infrastructure were not represented in the testing period. Finally, the report addresses the experiences and reactions of the auditors and commissioners involved. These reactions were recorded on the basis of personal and telephone interviews. The report concludes that the road safety audit is an instrument that could function effectively if a number of modifications in its procedures and a number of improvements to its content were to be made. Furthermore, it appears that the Netherlands, too, can benefit in terms of road safety by the use of the audit. The small number of test projects is one factor in not being able to provide any quantitative results. At the same time, the report concludes that particularly among road authorities that have not yet acquired any direct experience with the audit, doubts exist as to the audit’s usefulness in relationship to its costs and the effort required to implement it. Furthermore, they frequently fail to see the usefulness of separating road safety so explicitly from other aspects that determine the planning and lay-out process such as urban planning principles, economic reasons and environmental requirements. The test audits that were ultimately conducted, however, were generally completed satisfactorily with the commissioner involved being satisfied as well. As based on the experiences acquired during the testing period, a number of recommendations were made for the purpose of improving the content and procedures of the auditing instrument. Included in these recommendations was the wish to simplify the procedures as much as possible without losing the essential characteristics of the audit. Certain recommendations were also made for the purpose of increasing the demand for the audit.
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