Developing a Road Safety Review Tool to Identify Design Standard and Safety Deficits on High Risk Road Sections

The ESReT (European Safety Review Tool) project has developed a tool to support the review of road sections that have been identified as ‘high risk’ according to network screening processes. The tool provides a methodology to practitioners for the collection and analysis of road attribute data using low cost, non-specialist equipment. The overall result is a consistent and repeatable approach to the investigation and assessment of high risk road sections. There are two main parts of the assessment performed by the tool. The first part is a comparison of road attributes against design standards; the optional second part is a comparison of road attributes against ‘safety rules’. The road design standard check allows road authorities to compare the attributes of existing heritage roads with current design standards. This allows road authorities to identify where, and in what way, modern design rules are not met. Various design standard attributes are included in the tool including: median width, lane width, shoulder type and width, verge width, curve radius, crests and sags, stopping sight distance and intersection type. The optional ‘safety’ check allows the road authority to see where key safety rules are violated. This means aspects of the road that may contribute to high severity crashes are identified along with aspects of the road that may lack credibility to the road user. Attributes relating to safety include median type, clear zones (median and roadside), intersection type and frequency, stopping sight distance, adjacent land use, presence of pedestrian and cycle facilities etc. The ESReT system allows road attribute information to be visualised and reviewed by the road authority, and presents the results of the road design standard and safety checks by showing deficits both in tabular form and on interactive maps. The ESReT system does not aim to provide a definite design solution to the road authority, rather it provides experienced practitioners with standardised information about the road along with suggestions so that they can develop the best solutions based on their experience and local knowledge. This research was carried out as part of the CEDR Transnational Road Research Programme Call 2013. The funding for the research was provided by the national road administrations of the Netherlands, Germany and Ireland.