ROAD SAFETY AUDITS: THE NORTH AMERICAN EXPERIENCE

摘要

Road safety audits (RSAs) are a relatively new safety tool in North America. Since the firstrnsafety reviews in 1997, audits have become an accepted part of the design process for many largernand/or safety-driven projects in Canada. In the United States, the FHWA is encouraging theirrnuse in federal, state, and municipal road projects.rnThis paper discusses the application of RSAs in Canada and the United States, and the outlookrnfor their future application. Recent milestones on the RSA road include the publication of thernCanadian Road Safety Audit Guidern(Transportation Association of Canada, 2001), and the firstrndesign-stage audit of a mega-project in the United States (the US$800 million MarquetternInterchange in Milwaukee, in 2003). The paper discusses the evolution of audits in NorthrnAmerica, and how the RSA process and report is changing in response to factors such as severerntime constraints, owners’ and design teams’ attitudes, liability concerns, and safety concernsrnassociated with sub-classes of road users such as cyclists and older drivers.rnThis paper may be of interest to agencies who are inaugurating a RSA program in theirrnjurisdictions, and to those sharing an interest in the progress and evolution of this versatile safetyrntechnique pioneered in the U.K. and Australia.