Abstract
Road Safety Audits (RSAs) are formal safety performance examinations of an existing or future road or any project, which interacts with road users, in which an independent, qualified multidisciplinary team reports on accident potential and safety performance. It estimates and reports on potential roadway safety issues for all users and identifies opportunities for improvements to eliminate or reduce problems. Emphasis is placed on preventive measures and implementing road safety into projects. California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) recommends RSAs be implemented and suggests following U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration guidelines; however, these guideline have not been made a standard program for California. The objective of this research was to learn about the experiences of transportation agencies implementing RSAs in California and to identify issues to determine if improvements can be made in the agencies’ process. A list of transportation agencies in all California counties, as well as various cities and towns in California, was compiled and a survey was developed and distributed which included 36 questions to collect data on agency implementation of RSAs. Survey responses were compiled to create a dataset which was analyzed to identify best practices, issues, and recommendations for future improvements to RSA implementation in California. The focus of the data analysis from survey responses was on entities that were currently conducting RSAs. Of the 98 responding agencies, 68 (69.4%) were aware of what an RSA is and 30 (30.6%) were not. Of the 68, almost 50% were actually conducting RSAs. According to the data analysis, the most prominent issues that California transportation agencies faced were a lack of standardization of the RSA process, lack of funding, and lack of training. All of these issues are a critical part of the project findings that are a priority in the recommendations of this project. A standard practice for conducting RSAs would increase productivity and effectiveness. RSAs would be more productive and cost-effective with proper training and implementation in California based on the recommendations in this research. Lastly, availability of more funding would result in more participation, training and implementation leading to safer roads in California.