In a bid to curb mounting road accidents, Road Safety Audit (RSA) is to be carried out for every kilometre in all National Highways and Expressways, including existing corridors and improvement projects, to cover all aspects of safety related to road and road environment.
Henceforth, RSA will have to be carried out at all stages – feasibility, design, construction and pre-opening – as it has been found that data/details required for supporting the recommendations of the road safety audit are lacking.
The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH), in its fresh guidelines, has said the RSA report should “spell out safety concerns and recommendations with full reasons and explanation to enable informed decision making regarding safety.”
Various aspects of the traffic and socio-economic parameters specific to the local conditions will have to be taken into account while identifying the safety concerns and making road safety audit recommendations.
RSA mandatory
At least one RSA is to be mandatorily carried out, preferably at design stage, for all capacity augmentation projects of 5 km length or more, said the Chief Engineer (Road Safety) MORTH in a communication to the Chief Secretaries.
For capacity augmentation projects of 50 km or more, one RSA at DPR stage and one at pre-opening stage have to be ensured. In the case of Expressways, all four stage audits are mandatory. For special or complex projects where the road authority considers it appropriate, the RSA can be carried out at different stages, including construction.
