The Workshop
How to reduce the number
of traffic accidents by 50% during 3 years
Integration of
Road Safety Audit
in the road design process
and other road safety related issues
Kristian DUUS
JASPERS Regional Office for
Central Europe, Vienna
Contents of this presentation:
1. Some key figures to underline the importance of
road safety in road investment programmes
2. Tools and their impact
3. The principles of road safety audit (RSA)
4. Institutional integration of RSA in road agencies
5. Examples and illustrations
6. Impact of RSA on accident reduction
Why focus on Road Safety Audit in the
Operational Programme Transport?
Key figures
The OP for economic growth in Lithuania
2007 – 2013
Priority Axis 5 :


66 km of new
motorways
315 km new and
rehabilitation in total
Objective 4: Reduction of accident rates
4
Key figures
The Economic Cost of
Road Accidents in Lithuania
•
•
2010: Economic
losses amounts to
1.32 billion Litas (382
M EUR)
Approximately 1% of
national GDP
5
Key figures
Traffic distribution
•
80 % of all traffic on 20% of the
road network
motorways & national roads
•
Major roads projects a key target
•
6
Key figures
per mill. inhabitants, EU 2009
Lithuania
2009: 110
2010: 92
7
Key figures
Percentage change in road accident fatalities during 2001 - 2010
Source: www.baltris.org
8
Key figures

The number of fatal and serious
accidents is falling in Lithuania 

Very well, but can we explain why?
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Key figures
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Better roads?
Better cars?
Safer design?
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Speed bump
Street lights
Roundabouts
Etc…….
More law enforcement?
Better education?
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Tools and their impact

Indeed a mixture of several actions
and developments

It is important to know which
medicine works – to continue and
improve the cure!

Road Safety Audit is a tool proven to
yield positive cost effective results
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Tools and their impact
Means of road safety interventions
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Enforcement: speed, alcohol, seat belt etc.
Improving vehicle safety
Implementing ITS on roads (intelligent transport
systems)
Education in schools
Road safety audit
Accident data collection and processing (very
essential to decide targeted actions)
Black Spot projects
Information campaigns (TV, bill boards ..)
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Tools and their impact
EC Road Safety Directive 2008/96/EC
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Applicable on TEN-T road network
Art. 3, road safety impact assessment
Art. 4, road safety audit
Art. 5, safety ranking (black/grey spots)
Art. 6, safety inspections
Art. 7, Accident data management (fatalities)
Art. 9, RSA curricula adopted by 19 Dec. 2011
Art 14, transposition, 19 Dec. 2010
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Tools and their impact
Inspections and audits
Road Safety Inspections &
Ranking of existing roads
Road Safety Audit on
new roads
Accident investigations and
safety surveys
A focussed independent safety
check applying accumulated
experience on road safety
Used as a cure on existing road
network to improve road safety
based on safety performance
Used as prevention in design
of new infrastructure or in case
of rehabilitation works
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Tools and their impact
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Lithuania is already advancing fast in
improving road safety
There is an growing experience
among various experts and
practitioners
Many actions related to RSA have
already been done in the past
15
Safety inspections and ranking

Through accident records traffic police
and road authority know where the
critical spots and sections are

Black spots and sections are identified
and analysed

Solutions are found by road authority
& police in cooperation with other
institutions
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Safety inspections and ranking
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Implementation according to resources
Monitoring and follow-up
Enforcement, education and
information
State, regional and district level
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Safety inspections and ranking
European Road Assessment Programme
EuroRAP
International Road Assessment Programme
IRAP
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Safety inspections and ranking
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Safety inspections and ranking
Accident data processing
and management
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Road Safety Audit
What is RSA – a definition

A formal systematic road safety
assessment of a road scheme carried out
by an independent, qualified auditor who
reports on the project’s accident potential
for all kinds of road users
Elvik & Sørensen 2007
“Put on your blinkers!”
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How to introduce RSA in the national system
Based on the Danish Manual of RSA
1.
Organisation
2.
Procedure
3.
Project Phases
4.
Training of Auditors
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How to introduce RSA
Organisation (1)
Client – Designer – Auditor
Define and divide the responsibilities
between the three parties prior to RSA
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How to introduce RSA
Organisation (2)
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The Client – owner of the road infrastructure
e.g LRA
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The Designer – responsible for planning, design,
launch of RSA, and response to RSA report
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The Auditor, carries out an independent critical
safety review of the project
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How to introduce RSA
Organisation (3)
Client = highway authority or municipality
Designer = HA design dept. or consultant
Auditor = HA safety dept. or consultant
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The RSA procedure
1
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The RSA procedure
2
Ordering – Reviewing - Completion
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The designer orders the review
The auditor examines the project and
reports to the designer (Check list)
The designer responds to the RSA report
The auditor declares the RSA complete
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The RSA procedure
3
Client
Designer
Auditor
Ideal relationship between the three parties
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How to introduce RSA
Defining the stages
1.
(Pre) feasibility study, planning
2.
Preliminary design
3.
Detailed design
4.
Opening
5.
Monitoring (road safety
inspections)
RSA can be carried out at any of these five stages!!
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How to introduce RSA
Training (1)
1.
2.
Set up the training curricula for
road safety auditors
Training Institution:
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the existing institute for continuing
professional development in the
road sector
the road engineering faculty at the
universities
The National Road Safety Council
other
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How to introduce RSA
Training (2)
Candidates for RSA training:
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Road engineers and planners with at
least 3-5 years of practical experience
from road authority or road
consultancy
2-3 years of experience with road
safety analysis
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How to introduce RSA
Training (3)
Course duration for
experienced trainees:

1-2 weeks intensive course
Course duration for trainees
with limited road safety
experience

To be assessed individually
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Benefits of Road Safety Audits

Safety risks for different user groups are identified
(cars, pedestrians, bicycles)

Expensive reconstruction can be avoided if RSA is
done already at design stage
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Reduces socio-economic cost caused by accidents

Improves design quality through structured
discussions between planners
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Example of RSA (Phase 1) remarks and
recommendations
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Project example - any problems?
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Project example new four leg junctions
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Examples of RSA recommendations

Make roundabouts when
appropriate
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Examples of RSA recommendations
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or staggered junctions
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Project example – Stage 5
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Project example – Stage 5
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Examples of RSA recommendations
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Provide rumble strips on
road edge – to alert road
users
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Examples of RSA recommendations
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Guard rails
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Any safety problems?
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Maybe!
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A solution - provide side barriers
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Examples: Speed calming measures
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Cost of road safety audit (average)
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Up to 4% of road design cost
Approx. 0,25% of construction cost
Construction:
Constrution with RSA:
50 M EUR
50,1 M EUR
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Impact of RSA on accident rates (1)

Denmark, 13 projects, >25 accidents
saved per year, additional project
cost due to RSA was 1,2%

Germany, RSA may prevent up to
70% of all accidents on newly
constructed roads
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Impact of RSA on accident rates (2)

UK, Surrey County, compared 38 projects
of which RSA was carried out on half of
them:
With RSA – 60% drop in casualties
without RSA – 10% drop in casualties

USA, road safety inspections and follow-up
improvements on existing roads led to 2040% reduction of accidents
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State-of-the-art road safety approach:
Self-explanatory and forgiving roads
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If a road explains itself, the road user will drive as
appropriate
If an accident occurs, the road should be forgiving,
i.e. aim at reducing the impact of the error as much
as possible
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Self explanatory ?
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Self explanatory ?
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Self explanatory ?
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Forgiving road side? 
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Conclusions:
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It is important and relevant to carry out road
safety audit on road projects in Lithuania:
The accident frequency on Lithuanian roads
is high, however declining
The social and human cost of accidents are
very high
The investments in new roads are substantial
Road Safety Audit has proven to be a cost
effective method to improve road safety,
especially when applied in the design phase
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Safe journey !!
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Key Information Sources for this presentation:
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European Campaign for Safe Road Design
http://www.saferoaddesign.eu/
European Road Assessment Programme
http://www.eurorap.org/
Baltris
http://www.baltris.org
EU Road Safety CARE,
http://ec.europa.eu/transport/road_safety
International Transport Forum incl. IRTAD
http://www.internationaltransportforum.org/irtad/index.html
Global Road Safety Partnership
http://www.grsproadsafety.org/knowledge-audits-14.html
Bundesanstalt für Strassenwesen, BASt,
http://www.bast.de/cln_005/nn_42254/DE/Statistik/statistiknode.html?__nnn=true
The Handbook of Road Safety Measures, Elvik a.o.2009
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