THE USE OF ROAD SAFETY AUDITS BY LOCAL AGENCIES

In 1998 there were more than 6.3 million police-reported motor vehicle crashes in the United States. Almost one-third of these resulted in an injury. Approximately 800 crash-related fatalities were recorded per week. A primary goal of all transportation agencies should be to reduce this staggering and unacceptable toll. One practical tool proven to be highly active in identifying and reducing the crash potential when implemented in the planning and design of roadway projects is the Road Safety Audit (RSA) concept. The objective of this paper is to present a brief introduction to the road safety audit concept and to highlight applications of this concept by local road agencies using road safety audit reviews (RSARs).