Why Road Safety Audits?

The toll from road crashes remains an important health and economic issue in South Africa. More than 14 000 people died in road crashes in 2016, with the long-term trend still showing no significant signs of improvement.  An emphasis on preventative measures to reduce road safety risks on roads are required. Well-documented experience in Europe, Australia and elsewhere shows that Road Safety Audits are both effective and cost beneficial as a proactive safety improvement tool. This is reflected in the growing number of countries, both developed and developing, that have introduced Road Safety Audits.

The South African National Roads Agency Limited (SANRAL)’s policy is to conduct road safety audits on all road improvement or new road projects.  This is in line with the South African Road Safety Strategy 2016 which states that road safety audits should be made compulsory by all road authorities.

Minimum Requirements for Road Safety Auditors

SANRAL’s requirements for the minimum qualifications of Road Safety Audit Team Leaders are that the team leader should:

• Be a Registered Professional Engineer or Professional Engineering Technologist with the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA), and
• Have at least 10 years of experience in Road Safety Design and/or Traffic and Transportation Engineering and/or Geometric Design; and
• Have successfully completed a recognized Road Safety Audit course to the equivalent of at least 5 CPD points.
• Have undertaken at least 2 formal road safety audits within a period of two years as the Audit Team Leader or Audit Team member.

For Audit Team members SANRAL’s requirements are less onerous, but also requires the attendance of a 5-day road safety audit course.

 Who should attend this course?

This Road Safety Audit Course is aimed at practitioners with a civil engineering background and provides a robust, fundamental basis for those who want to become auditors or take up roles in an Audit Team.  The course will also be beneficial for officials who are responsible for commissioning, reviewing or assessing Road Safety Audit Reports. All delegates will be expected to have a basic background in geometric road design and/or traffic engineering.  Delegates should at the very least be familiar with the basic concept of these designs (i.e. super-elevation, gradient, horizontal and vertical curvature, forward visibility and stopping sight distance etc.) and be able to interpret engineering design drawings and traffic signal stage diagrams.

Course objectives

The objectives of the course are

• to give delegates a sound background to Road Safety Audits,
• to bring delegates up to date with latest developments and thinking in Road Safety Audits internationally,
• to make delegates aware of the Road Safety Audit requirements in South Africa, and
• to highlight the practical road safety engineering aspects which should be considered when conducting a road safety audit.

Course content

The topics will be covered:

• the scope and the purpose of road safety audits,
• the holistic approach to road safety (the 3Es, 6Es, the Haddon Matrix, the Safe Systems Framework),
• what is a crash,
• the roles and responsibilities of the parties involved in road safety audits,
• the benefits of road safety audits,
• an overview of the road safety audit process and audit types, as prescribed by the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC)’s Road Safety Audit Manual,
• road safety engineering assessments vs appraisals vs audits.
• the requirements for a road safety audit,
• conducting a road safety audit: step by step for practitioners and officials,
• key road safety engineering concepts which are important when conducting a road safety audit,
• identification and classification of road safety risks,
• compiling an audit report,
• risk and legal implications, and
• the importance of a formal closeout process.

The course will focus on the road safety audit process and concepts.  During day 3 to 5, delegates will be required to complete group assignments, relating to the different steps of the road safety audit process.   Delegates will be required to conduct a site visit on day 3 of the course, which will include a night time site visit.

 Dr. Louis Roodt PrEng  & Andile Gqaji PrTech Eng