1 Safety Audit Existing Road zA safety audit of an existing road is usually carried out if the road is considered as an unsafe road with more accidents

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Safety AuditExisting Road

A safety audit of an existing road is usually carried out if the road is considered as an unsafe road with more accidents than average for that kind of road.

A safety audit can also be the first step in preparation of a rehabilitation plan of an existing road.

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General Project Data Background information

the function of the roadthe standard of the roadtraffic volumesaccidents, etc

Maps and drawings

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Road Function• Is it a national, regional or local road? • Is it long distance or short distance traffic, or

maybe there is a mix of different kinds. Is the road a part of a major route?

• Is it a tourist road?• What is the proportion of heavy traffic? • Are the road used by vulnerable road users?• Is the road situated in rural, sub-urban or urban

areas?

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Road Standard• Describe the road standard in general. • Comment on the standard regarding road

function, traffic volume, speed limits, etc.• Analyze the speed-limits. Are they reasonable

considering built up areas, presence of vulnerable road users, especially children, the alignment of the road, etc.?

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Traffic situationTraffic Volumes

• Determine the traffic volume. • Determine the traffic growth during the last five

years.• Determine how the traffic is composed.• Find out the expected traffic volume for coming

years.

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Traffic Accidents• Gather information about accidents during the

last three years. • Study the locations of the accidents. • Are there some accident prone locations, black

spots? Study the type of the accidents. • Are there some accident patterns indicating a

specific problem?• Study the severity of the accidents.• Summarize the result in a table and compare the

result with the average value for comparable roads.

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SurroundingsDescribe the surroundings in general

• Rural, urban or suburban.

What kind of surroundings are there?

• Forest, agricultural area, built up area or a mixture of these?

What kind of built up area?

• Industrial area, shopping area, residential area, etc.

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Field studies Preparations

Calculate with more than one field-study.Estimate the time for travelling to the

starting point.Estimate the time needed to travel through

the actual section in both directions.• If video recording will be carried out, the speed

should not exceed 70 km/h. If stops will be made during the trip, the average speed will be 30 – 50 km/h

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Identification of the locationCSN and km-postsThe trip-meter of the carDistance from starting-point or junctions

from a map or drawing

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Investigation form Before the field-study an investigation form

has to be prepared.

Pilot Project. Safety auditing (Field investigation of safetyrisks)

Airport Road (Ankara Ring Road – Esenboğa)

CSN Kilo-meter

Distance(m)

Type ofhazard

Comments

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The field-studyThree persons should participate.

• The observer, who will identify different obstacles and hazards.

• The driver, who will read off the trip meter, where obstacles or hazards are identified.

• The third person will fill in the form - obstacles and hazards and their locations.

• If a video recording is made, which is recommended, the observer should operate the video camera.

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Examples of obstacles and hazardsRoad Design Road Side Area Road shoulder missing, too narrow or

unpaved Improper junction design Improper exit or entrance to shop, petrol

station or other commercial activity Improper connection to small access road Limited sight distance Improper or dangerous pedestrian crossing Small horizontal or vertical radius Temporary road narrowing (e.g. bridge)

Dangerous fixed object in the roadway,roadside, traffic island or median

Dangerous bridge fixed object in the roadside ormedian (e.g. massive poles, pillars, fence, tree

Dangerous rock cutting, loose stone rock orrocks

House or other building High, steep side slope without guardrail Guardrail endings Culvert endings

Regulations Speed limit too high or too low Wrong, misplaced or worn out sign or road

marking

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Width of the “safety zone” or “clear zone”

Design speed Standard level

km/h High Fair Low

50 >3 m <3 m -

70 >7 m >3 m <3 m

90 >9 m >4,5 m <4,5 m

110 >10 m >6 m <6 m

Example of required width of the clear zone

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Shape of the “safety zone”

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During the field study Take notes about deficiencies, obstacles

and hazards Take notes about the location Make comments during video recording Take photos

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Back in office Enter the notes from the field-study into

a EXCEL-sheet or WORD-document Add additional information that can be

gathered from maps, drawings, photos or the video-tape

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Questions to be asked Are the locations of all deficiencies,

obstacles and hazards determined? Are the locations of all changes in speed

limits determined? Are the locations off all major junctions

determined? Is there a need of an additional field-

study?

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Presentation of the results The result of the safety audit should be

presented in a report containing;A text describing the prerequisites, the

findings and proposals for improvementsThe investigation form where the problems

can be sorted by location and by typeA map or drawing with relevant information

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Example of presentation - text

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Example of presentation - investigation form

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Example of presentation - map

Documents

1 Safety Audit Existing Road zA safety audit of an existing road is usually carried out if the road is considered as an unsafe road with more accidents