Road safety audits (RSAs) are a relatively new safety tool in North America. 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 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. (Author/publisher) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E213531.
Samenvatting