A Road Safety Audit (RSA) is a proven safety countermeasure used to assess the safety performance of a roadway or intersection through an independent, multidisciplinary team. B&N was part of the team to generate a synthesis to gather information about state department of transportation (DOT) practices for conducting RSAs. B&N led a literature review of state DOT documentation for RSA practices and procedures and supported the development of a survey to solicit information from state agencies about their processes.
In total, 12 state DOTs have published guidelines or documents detailing RSAs. Each state-specific guideline was reviewed and compared to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) guidelines. Six areas were found to differ most from the FHWA – types of RSAs, RSA site selection, RSA team composition, pre-audit meeting background data evaluation, field review practices and post-field review processes. This literature review was praised for its thoroughness and is being used as an example for future projects. In addition to the literature review, B&N participated in interviews with state DOTs about their RSA practices and assisted in the development of case studies that detail RSAs in action.
A copy of the synthesis can be found at this link: https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/27648/dot-practices-on-road-safety-audits.