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Unit 12/ DAY3- Stages of Road Safety Auditing -Session#1(M/S)

As per IRC: SP: 88: 2000, Safety Audit can be applied on (a) new roads and (b) existing
roads. On new roads, safety audit will lead to avoiding building accident-prone situations and
on existing roads, audit will lead to improved roads from the safety point of view. It should be
realized that safety audits are a necessary cost, and not an additional expense. As project is
audited, it provides further scope to improve/enhance safety. In projects where there is a
choice of route or standards, or there are known safety problems, the designer should discuss
these with auditors at the initial stage. The safety audit shall be carried out on road and traffic
improvement projects. Safety audit during construction stage is a new concept and no country
has developed any checklists for carrying road safety audit during construction stage.

For New Construction of Road

During Feasibility Study - Stage 1 Audit

During Preliminary Design - Stage 2 Audit

Completion of Detailed Design- Stage 3 Audit

During Construction Stage - Stage 4 Audit

Completion of Construction (Pre-opening) - Stage 5 Audit

1. STAGE 1 AUDIT :- During Feasibility Study

Why audit at the Feasibility/Concept stage?

• There is greatest scope for change at this stage
• Avoids problems that cannot be avoided at a later stage
• Ensure all road users have been considered in the design
• To check that the project fits into the overall environment suitably or whether additional
works will be required
Stage 1 is recommended for major schemes, including in urban areas, in order to influence
route choice, alignment selection, standards, impact on and continuity with the existing
network, junction provision, possible hazards from roadside development etc. Reviews of
initial project/planning study. Important subjects for assessment at this stage will include:
• Choice of route options
• Alignment and ease of achieving design standards
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• Standards and cross-section

• Effects on existing network
• Number of junctions, their types, etc.
• Possible hazards from roadside development
The road safety auditor should not question on planning information or reassess matters of
strategy. Auditor should only concern himself with the presented planning information. Steps
involved in Stage 1 Audit are given in Fig.1

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1.2 STAGE 2 AUDIT :- (Completion of Preliminary Design)

Stage 2 is recommended on completion of preliminary design, to assess horizontal and

vertical alignments, sight lines and layout of junctions including slip roads and lay-byes. After
this stage, land acquisition may be taken up. Examination when preliminary design is
completed i.e., where the alignment has largely been decided, but can still be modified before
approval. Important subjects for assessment at this stage are:
• Project changes since Stage 1 Audit
• Alignment
• Cross-section
• Arrangement of Junctions
• Any Interim Measures
All groups of road users, including those who have special needs and users of the adjoining
areas, should be taken into consideration. If there is any risk of special road safety problem
occurring during the construction phase, the risk must be assessed. Steps involved in Stage 2
Audit are given in Fig. 2

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1.3 STAGE 3 AUDIT :- (Completion of Detailed Design)

Stage 3 is recommended on completion of detailed design and before preparation of contract
documents, to assess detailed junction layout, markings, signs, signals, lighting details, etc.
Examination when detailed design is completed and the limits of expropriation have been set,
but before the tender documents are prepared and tenders are invited. Vital subjects for
assessment at this stage are:
• Project changes since Stage 2 Audit
• Detail Design of junctions
• Design of geometries
• Cross-fall
• Markings and Signs
• Side drains
• Embankment slopes
• Presence of clear zone
• Traffic Signals
• Lighting
• Interim Measures
Tender documents must not be issued to bidders until auditing at this stage has been
completed and all agreed changes have been incorporated in the project documents. Steps
involved in Stage 3 Audit are given in Fig. 3.

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1.4 STAGE 4 AUDIT :- (During Construction Stage)

Construction zone is that area of the road which is affected by the works and which affects
traffic flow and safety of workers and road users. In this context it can also be called Traffic
Control Zone'. In rural areas, problem at these zones is accentuated by the reduced availability
of carriageway, acquisition of land for diversions, etc. In urban areas, the problems are even
more acute as diversions may have to be over adjacent road street of the road network as well
as the sharing of road space by different categories of road users. Traffic control zone can be
divided into three major components i.e.. Advance Warning Zone, Transition Zone and Work
Zone. Manual on Traffic Management at Construction Zones is published by the Indian Roads
Congress as IRC:SP:55 should be referred to. Steps involved in Stage 4 Audit are given in
Fig. 4.
• Examination of Terminal Transition Zone, Work Zone, Approach Transition Zone
and Advance Warning Zone with respect to safety point of view.
• Examination of safety measures adopted for workmen and road users.
• Examination of traffic control devices adopted at construction zone.

Motorists need to know about safe driving requirements in construction zones. Major
problems in work zones are attentiveness and speed. It is necessary to help the drivers to be
more attentive by using signages, rumble strips and anything that brings alertness and gets
them to realize that there is something different about this stretch of road and there would be
lower speed limits in the work zones. Work zone safety measures should be aggressive and
comprehensive. It should include public service announcements, safety training for workers in
work zones, lower speed limits in work zones, rumble strips and other speed reducing
measures, proper signages, flagman to control and guide traffic, stepped-up enforcement.

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1.5 STAGE 5 AUDIT:- (Completion of Construction-Pre opening)

Stage 5 is recommended immediately prior to opening of scheme, involving the site staff and
local traffic police in car and truck. This should take the form of driving and when
appropriate, walking and/or cycling the new route. This is checked during night time also to
ensure that required night time safety standards have been achieved.
• A final review of the finished construction, to check from the standpoint of road
safety that it is ready to be opened for traffic. It is particularly important to check the location
and visibility of markings and other traffic control devices especially where changes were
made during the construction period. The finished scheme should be assessed from the road
users' point of view in day light and in darkness.
• After opening for one or two months, the auditor should examine whether or not
road users are using the project facility in an appropriate manner.
Many schemes are constructed with the road open to traffic throughout the entire construction
phase. When there is no question of an actual opening for traffic, an overall examination is to
be carried out to audit whether the markings and all traffic control devices are in place. This
examination is to be carried out by the auditor independently in the first instance and there
after along with the Project Manager of the Contractor. Steps involved in Stage 5 Audit are
given in Fig. 5.

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2. AUDITING OF EXISTING ROADS

Safety Audit methodology is also successful on existing roads which includes both Operation
and Maintenance (O&M) of existing roads. The existing roads represent the present condition
of the road after completion of construction as well as any hazardous conditions that may have
been created during its lifetime such as encroachments, ribbon development or deterioration
of road conditions as well as traffic conditions, etc.
An analysis of any accident data and inspection of the scheme every year, with a view to
determine whether or not road users use the scheme appropriately. Subjects for monitoring
include:
a) Does the prevailing speed correspond to the design speed?
b) Are the visibility and sight distance criteria still satisfied?
c) Have any changes been made which could affect road safety?
d) For carriageway and paved shoulders examine things like any breach or blockade,
roughness value, pot holes, cracking, rutting, skidding, damage to pavement, edge drop at
shoulders.
e) Check the roadside furniture including road signs and markings damage to their shape or
position, loss of retro-reflectivity
f) Street lighting and Highway Traffic Management System (HTMS)
g) Rest areas - cleaning, defects in electrical, water and sanitary installations.
h) Bridges - super structure, foundations, bearings, joints, etc.

Auditing of Existing roads involves

• Accidental data collection

• Inspection at road construction at accident black spot
• Inspections of Designs
• Assessment and Reviews

2.1 ACCIDENTAL DATA COLLECTION

The accident data collection is the first step in the accident study. The data collection of the
accidents is primarily done by the police. Motorist accident reports are secondary data which
are filed by motorists themselves. The data to be collected should comprise all of these
parameters:

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1. General - Date, time, person involved in accident, classification of accident like fatal,
serious, minor
2. Location - Description and detail of location of accident
3. Details of vehicle involved - Registration number, description of vehicle, loading
detail, vehicular defects
4. Nature of accident - Details of collision, damages, injury and casualty
5. Road and traffic condition - Details of road geometry, surface characteristics, type of
traffic, traffic density etc..
6. Primary causes of accident - Details of various possible cases (already mentioned)
which are the main causes of accident.
7. Accident cost - Financial losses incurred due to property damage, personal injury and
casualty

These data collected need proper storing and retrieving for the following purpose. The
purposes are as follows:

1. Identification of location of points at which unusually high number of accident occur.

2. Detailed functional evaluation of critical accident location to identify the causes of
accidents.
3. Development of procedure that allows identification of hazards before large number of
accidents occurs.
4. Development of different statistical measures of various accident related factors to
give insight into general trends, common casual factors, driver profiles, etc.

2.2 INSPECTION AT ROAD CONSTRUTION AT ACCIDENT BLACK SPOT

Black spots which are short stretches where the accidents /fatalities take place repeatedly get
created on the road network due to various reasons like

• Commissions & omissions in the development projects

• Changes in the road side environment
• Changes in developmental scenario in the region
• Unplanned developments /unauthorized constructions / near the roads like
advertisement boards , Poles, statues, buildings, trees, bushes etc.

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Therefore rectifying the black spots is a continuous process. The process of eliminating or
improving accident black spots in a road network is composed of several activities, as
illustrated in the following figure:

Identification of blackspots is the procedure to locate those spots in the road network that are
particularly dangerous, that is, the black spots.

Diagnosis is the process to study what are the problems, the accident contributing factors and
the deficiencies for each of the identified black spots.

Finding countermeasures implies a methodical analysis to design suitable countermeasures

for each black spot, based on actual problems and deficiencies.

Estimating effects is the process to estimate the safety effects (and if necessary, also other
effects) and costs of suitable countermeasures.

Prioritizing implies finding the best action plan (or investment program), according to some
defined criteria, and based on estimated effects and costs as well as budget restrictions.

Implementation is the actual realization of the prioritized measures included in the action
plan (or investment program).

Follow-up and evaluation is the last and very important step, which aim is to assess the
actual results (effects and costs)

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2.3 INSPECTION OF DESIGN

Information to be collected on road geometry

The geometry of the road is defined by its horizontal and vertical alignment and cross-
section :
Road Alignment: only very rough information about the alignment of a road can be obtained
during a rapid inspection. It is obviously essential for analyzing drainage needs but to be
useful it must be supplemented by information about the level of the surrounding land. This
information must be obtained at the detailed design stage
Cross-section: when inspecting a road network the following data about the cross-section
must be collected:
1) the distance between both left and right ditches;
2) the width of the rolling surface. These are necessary to determine quantities of work to be
done to restore and maintain the road. The width of the rolling surface is that which can be
driven on during the visual inspection.
Definition of types of structural damage
There are four types of structural damage on which data must be obtained. These are
summarized on four tables which provide guidelines for estimating the severity of each. Each
table provides, for each level of severity of surface damage, default values for the extent, a
visual aid to evaluation, effect on driving behavior, and the type of corrective works required.
Deformation
Deformation can consist of simple gravel loss due to traffic or rain, or in the more severe
forms of rutting or subsidence. It indicates structural damage caused by drainage problems
together with gravel losses. It depends upon traffic, topography (loss is high on slopes and
bends) and rainfall. In low-volume roads, where conventional vehicles rarely exceed 10-20
vpd, traffic is a lesser factor, while topography and rainfall become critical, since roads are
build to simple standards, with steep slopes and sharp bends, augmenting gravel loss. Severity
can be quantified, if necessary, by measuring the deformation depth using as 1.50m straight
edge, but during rapid inspection it is usually assessed visually.
When surveying a network, distinguishing between the three types of deformation is not
necessary as it would complicate data collection without providing compensatory precision. It
will be necessary to distinguish between these three possible causes later at the design stage
since they influence rehabilitation needs in different ways. In the case of gravel loss due to
traffic, maintenance may be sufficient (grading if the depth is shallow, and gravel resurfacing,

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or spot regravelling if deformation is severe), while in the case of rutting and subsidence,
which can affect the structure, local reconstruction may be required.
Potholes
Although on paved roads potholes indicate surface rather than structural damage, on unpaved
roads, they are considered as structural damage since the surface course is also the base
course, and potholes tend to grow and reproduce rapidly. The impact of potholes on
maintenance works is related rather to their number than to their size or depth. A small
number of potholes along a given section may be repaired by gravel resurfacing and local
compacting, while a high density requires spot regravelling.
Corrugation
Corrugation results from separation of base course material due to oscillatory wheel impacts,
which tend to be self-reinforcing. Although related to the type of material and not the
thickness of the road structure, corrugation is considered as structural damage because it
reaches the minimum thickness of gravel cover at the low points of the corrugation. When the
depth of the corrugation is slight, grading may be sufficient. If deep, gravel resurfacing is
required.
Gullies
Longitudinal gullies are channels scoured by high-velocity water flow down slopes. They can
be found in the middle or on the sides of the road. They result from drainage problems and not
from structural weaknesses. However, they are seen as structural damage because they may
result in deep erosion of the base course requiring reshaping ditches and cross-
section. Lateral gullies result from localized deficiencies in transversal water drainage
causing the water to flow over rather than under the road.
Calculation of the Structural Quality Index (SQI)
The Structural Quality Index (SQI) can be assigned four levels (from 0 to 3) corresponding to
the extent of each type of damage. The quality index of a given section is assumed equal to
the highest severity level of the four different types of damage observed on that section. The
type of maintenance or rehabilitation work required on a given stretch of road is derived from
the damage having the highest severity level. The type of task to be performed does not
change if there are one or more of the same severity level. In general, road sections of levels 0
and 1 can be restored by immediate routine and periodic maintenance while roads of SQI 2 or
3 will require rehabilitation works to restore them to maintainable condition.
SQI = Max Severity Level [Deformation, Corrugation, Potholes, Gullies]

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2.4 ASSESSMENT AND REVIEWS

Road safety audit assessment procedures are designed to assess the likely effects of the
scheme or transport planning decision on accident occurrence, injury and damage over the
whole of the road network which will be affected. Following this procedure, any highway
scheme that emerges from the feasibility study should then be subject to safety audit at the
stages of preliminary design and detailed design, and on site just before opening to traffic and
after several months of operation.

Safety audit of a specific design for a new or modified road assesses the accident potential
and likely safety performance of the design with a view to enabling the scheme to operate as
safely as is practicable by identifying and recommending any necessary changes to the design.

For both safety impact assessment and safety audit, the application of safety principles is
achieved through formal audit procedures carried out by expertise independent of the planning
or road infrastructure project design team. Experience shows that audit work is best carried
out as a team task with the team having specialist expertise in the road safety engineering and
accident investigation and prevention fields.

The benefits of safety audits and safety impact assessment are

1. minimizing the risk of accidents occurring in the future as a result of planning decisions on
new transport infrastructure schemes
2. reducing the risk of accidents occurring in the future as a result of unintended effects of the
design of road schemes
3. reducing the long-term costs associated with a planning decision or a road scheme
4. enhancing the awareness of road safety needs among policy-makers and scheme designers

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