1. CEDR SG Road Safety Meeting April 6th 2005 Safey Audits. E xplanation of Audits and the Requirements at each Stage of the Audit Process. Presented by Harry Cullen Senior Project Manager, Road Safety & Research, NRA Prepared by Stephen Lambert & Lucy Curtis, Regional Road Safety Engineers, National Roads Authority, Ireland

2. CEDR SG Road Safety Meeting April 6th 2005 Introduction What is a Safety Audit Requirements & Guidelines At what stages are they done What to look for Who should do them Cost

3. CEDR SG Road Safety Meeting April 6th 2005 What is a Road Safety Audit? Process for checking the safety of new schemes on roads –Systematic –Based on safety principles – experience / research –Ensures that new schemes will not become the accident sites of the future. –Looks at schemes from ALL road users’ point of view

4. CEDR SG Road Safety Meeting April 6th 2005 About Safety Audits Road Safety Audits –Identifies potential safety hazards within a scheme and formulates recommendations for dealing with the identified hazards. –Applies the experience gained from accident remedial work to prevent future accidents. –Not there to stop developments, there to make developments safer. –Not a check of compliance with design standards.

5. CEDR SG Road Safety Meeting April 6th 2005 Road Safety Audit is not An opportunity to redesign the scheme A technical check A design standards check

6. CEDR SG Road Safety Meeting April 6th 2005 Requirements & Guidelines The Design Manual for Roads & Bridges (DMRB) produced by the National Roads Authority, contains the following standards for Road Safety Audits: –2001- NRA DMRB HD 19/01 –NRA DMRB HA 42/01

7. CEDR SG Road Safety Meeting April 6th 2005 DMRB Design Manual for Roads & Bridges It is the Irish Standard for National Roads It has specific Requirements as to when and how Safety Audits should be carried out.

8. CEDR SG Road Safety Meeting April 6th 2005 WHEN! Road Scheme :- all work that involves a permanent change to the existing road layout. The standard defines the relevant road schemes which are to have a Safety Audit:- –All National Road schemes currently being prepared. –All work carried out under agreement with the NRA resulting from developments alongside or affecting National Roads. (Sec 2.1 NRA HD/01) –Major Temporary Traffic Management Schemes (at discretion of Design Office PM)

9. CEDR SG Road Safety Meeting April 6th 2005 When to do Road Safety Audit For large schemes –Stage F - Feasibility - Route Selection –Stage 1 - Preliminary design - Land Acquisition –Stage 2 - Detailed design - Tender –Stage 3 - Prior to opening to traffic –Monitoring after 1 and 3 years

10. CEDR SG Road Safety Meeting April 6th 2005 When to do Road Safety Audit For smaller schemes –Stage 1/2 – Completion of design –Stage 3 – Prior to opening to traffic –Monitoring after 1 and 3 years

11. CEDR SG Road Safety Meeting April 6th 2005 When to do Road Safety Audit For developments –Stage F- If major development –Stage 1 – Preliminary design –Stage 2 – Detailed design –Stage 3 – Prior to opening to traffic –Monitoring after 1 and 3 years

12. CEDR SG Road Safety Meeting April 6th 2005 The safety audit task Examination of scheme detail Check lists Control data Role play as different users Report Monitoring

13. CEDR SG Road Safety Meeting April 6th 2005 What to look for At all stages: –Mistakes –Opportunities to include accident-reducing elements –How all road users will cope at all times –Interaction between design elements –Departure from standards

14. CEDR SG Road Safety Meeting April 6th 2005 What to look for At Stage 1 –Road Alignment –Junction Layout –Accesses –Possible detailed design problems At Stage 2 –Design changes since stage 1 –Design details At Stage 3 –Design changes since stage 2 –Has the scheme been built as designed ?

15. CEDR SG Road Safety Meeting April 6th 2005 Who should do Audits –Must be independent of the design team –At least two people, three on large schemes –Safety engineering “experts” –Approved by NRA, if on national road –Road Safety Officers, Specialists, Police (stage 3 only)

16. CEDR SG Road Safety Meeting April 6th 2005 To Get NRA Approval Team Member 2 yrs experience as roads or traffic engineer 3-5 day approved course in Road Safety Audit 5 “practice” audits as a trainee Team Leader Either 2 years experience in Accident Investigation and Prevention or 2-week approved course in Road Safety Engineering 10 “practice” audits as trainee.

17. CEDR SG Road Safety Meeting April 6th 2005 In Design-and-Build or PPP (once PPP process has started) the RSA team must be from a completely separate organisation from the design team. NOT from the same firm or any part of the consortium at all. For D&B and PPP contracts the road safety auditor is more likely to be continually checking the scheme as the design progresses. There may be a number of pre stage 2 and stage 3 road safety audits.

18. CEDR SG Road Safety Meeting April 6th 2005 Skills required –Road safety engineering experience –Knowledge of design standards –Knowledge of current road safety research –Diplomacy –Teaching / Learning

19. CEDR SG Road Safety Meeting April 6th 2005 Cost Costs small in relation to over all scheme costs. –1500 to 6000 Euro per stage –3500 to 20,000 Euro for a full scheme DMRB estimates a FYRR of 600% for SA’s Findings show schemes audited on average have one casuality per year less than non audited schemes. (UK, Surrey Co.Co)

20. CEDR SG Road Safety Meeting April 6th 2005 Thank you!