University of ThessalyDepartment of Civil Engineering

Road Safety Audit Tools in Urban Areas

Athanasios Galanis Nikolaos Eliou

Adjunct Lecturer Professorneliou@uth.gr

Road Safety Audit Road crashes are caused by various factors: Roadway Environment (geometry, construction, maintenance,

traffic management, weather condition, street lighting etc) Vehicle (technical characteristics etc) Road User (physical and mental characteristics, social activity etc) Human is the weakest link in this system, so the road design

should be around human needs. Road Safety Audits (RSAs) are valuable tools used to evaluate

road safety issues and to indentify opportunities for improvement. RSA is a formal safety performance examination of an existing or

future road segment or intersection from an independent, multidisciplinary team.

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Road Safety Audit Benefits of RSA or Road Safety Inspection: Reduces the number and severity of crashes Examines conditions in detail that may pose safety hazards to all road

users Consider safety from a human factors point of view and multimodal

issues Do not require large financial investment When to conduct RSA? Planning, scoping, feasibility Preliminary (draft )design Detailed design Work zones Pre-opening Existing roads

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Early Stage

ConstructionPost-construction

More Major Issues Addressed by RSA

Less Opportunity for Changes

Planning/Scoping

Preliminary Design

Detailed Design

Pre-Opening

Better Redesign the Road in PC than Reconstruct a Road

Network

Road Safety Audit Process RSA Process

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RSA Team

1 Identify Project

2 Select RSA

Team

7 Prepare Formal

Response

8 Incorporate Findings

3 Conduct Start-

up Meetin

g

Road Owner

4 Perform

Field Review

s

5 Conduct Analysis

and Prepare Report

6 Present

Findings to Project Owner

Responsibilities

Road Safety Audit Cycle What do we want to change? Infrastructure and behaviour. What is our goal? Safe and sustainable transportation. How can we achieve this change? Tools, case studies and multidisciplinary work.

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Sustainable Transportation Main features of a sustainable transportation friendly city – built

environment: Road infrastructure design and maintenance based on physically disabled

citizens Road and personal safety of the built environment Accessibility to numerous destinations in urban and suburban areas using

alternative to automobile transport modes Architecture and aesthetics of the built environment Physical activity among citizens

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Personal Safety

Road Safety

Accessibility

Attractiveness

Convenience

Sustainable Transportation Friendly Built Environment

Sustainable Transport Modes Built Environment Audit Tools

Systematic Pedestrian and Cycling Environmental Scan (SPACES), (2002)

Walking and Bicycling Suitability Assessment Instrument (2003) Walkable Places Survey (WPS), (2003) Saint Louis University Audit Tool (SLU), (2004) Global Walkability Index (2006) Pedestrian Environmental Data Scan (PEDS), (2006) U-Maryland (2006) Irvine – Minnesota Inventory (I-M), (2006) Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale (NEWS), (2006)

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Sustainable Transport Modes Built Environment Audit Tools Evaluation of sustainable transport modes (pedestrians, bicyclists)

built environment features using audit tools: Analytic audit tools (extended version) Checklists (short version) Implementation from properly trained auditors or citizens with

low level of training or expertise Application in micro and macro urban form: Neighborhoods, arterials Road segment, intersection or bus stop area Neither audit tool or methodology is designed to evaluate all

features of the pedestrians or bicyclists built environment!

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Selection of a transport mode is influenced from urban built environment characteristics!

Sustainable Transport Modes Built Environment Audit Tools

Audit tools could be implemented either in paper sheets (print version) or using “Personal Digital Assistant” (PDA) tools (electronic version)

PDAs are compatible with Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Global Position Systems (GPS) and photo cameras, thus importing pictures and complete checklists in the data base in real time!

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Personal Digital Assistant (PDA)

Pedestrian Safety Audit ToolPrint Version

Sustainable Transport Modes Built Environment Audit Tools

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Sustainable Transport Modes Built Environment Audit Tools

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Pedestrian Road Safety Audit Pedestrian Road Safety Audit is a formal safety examination of

a future roadway plan or project of an existing facility and is conducted by an independent, multidisciplinary team.

Target of Pedestrian RSA is the evaluation of pedestrian built environment and improvement of the quality and safety of facilities that support the pedestrian mode of travel.

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RSA Zones

Pedestrian Facilities

Traffic

Traffic Control Devices

Topic

Streets

Street Crossin

gsParking Areas &

Adjacent Development

sTransit Areas

Methodology of Pedestrian Road Safety and Mobility Audit

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1.1. PRSA Team: Selection & Training

1.2. Street: Assignment & Coding

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2 2.1. Pedestrian Infrastructure Topographic Charting (CAD or GIS)

2.2. Pedestrian Built Environment Picture Collection

33.1. Audit Tool Implementation: Road Segment Checklist

3.2. Audit Tool Implementation: Crosswalk Checklist

3.3. Pedestrian Behaviour: Walking across the sidewalk Walking across the street Crossing outside designated sites

44.1. Grading Features of Pedestrian Built Environment: Road Segment Crosswalk

Methodology of Pedestrian Road Safety and Mobility Audit

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Pedestrian RSA Checklist (sample)

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Methodology of Bikeway Road Safety and Mobility Audit

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1.1. BRSA Team: Selection & Training

1.2. Street: Assignment & Coding

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2 2.1. Bikeway Network Topographic Charting (CAD or GIS)

2.2. Bikeway Built Environment Picture Collection

33.1. Audit Tool Implementation: Road Segment Checklist

3.2. Audit Tool Implementation: Crosswalk Checklist

3.3. Bicyclist Behaviour: Bicycling across the bikeway Bicycling across the street Crossing outside designated sites

44.1. Grading Features of Bikeway Built Environment: Road Segment Crosswalk

Methodology of Bikeway Road Safety and Mobility Audit

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Bikeway RSA Checklist (sample)

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1 Road Type 11 Bikeway Lane: Pavement Material1.1 Main Arterial 11.1 Asphalt1.2 Collector Arterial 11.2 Concrete Plates1.3 Local Street 11.3 Bricks (Concrete or Stone)1.4 Traffic Calming Street 11.4 Earth1.5 Pedestrian Street 11.5 Else

2 Bikeway Lane: Type 12 Bikeway Lane: Maintenance Problems

2.1 Type I (Raised Bikeway) 12.1 Shoving

2.2 Type ΙΙ (Bikeway Line even to Pavement Surface) 12.2 Collapse

2.3 Type ΙΙΙ (Mixed Bicyclists-Motorists Traffic Lanes) 12.3 Remaining Water

3 Bikeway Lane: Location 12.4 Remaining Earth3.1 Off Street 12.5 Litter3.2 On the Sidewalk 12.6 Else

3.3 On the Street 13 Bikeway Lane: Permanent Obstacles

4 Bikeway Lane: Continuous 13.1 Traffic Sign Pile4.1 Yes 13.2 Traffic Signal Pile4.2 No 13.3 Street Lighting Pile

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RSA & Sustainable Transportation The issue of road safety and sustainable transportation is

important in urban areas due to the following reasons: High rate of car ownership and use Insufficient transport infrastructure and traffic management Improper relationship between urban land use and transportation

system Investment in automobile infrastructure and motorists’ traffic

management faces the traffic congestion problem only in short term.

Implementation of Road Safety Audit Tools enhances not only road safety but also sustainability of urban and suburban transportation projects.

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“Road Safety Audit Tools in Urban Areas”

Thank you for your attention!Ви благодариме за вашето внимание

Athanasios Galanis Nikolaos Eliou Adjunct Lecturer Professor atgalanis@uth.gr neliou@uth.gr

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