International Road Federation (IRF )

Online Course: Introduction to Road Safety Audits

Course Description

Preventive risk assessment tools, such as road safety audits and inspections, are an effective and essential instrument to help road authorities reduce the number of crashes and casualties because design standards alone cannot guarantee road safety in all conditions. 

Risk assessment procedures can typically be applied at successive stages of road planning, design, opening, and operations. They all serve the common purpose of identifying risk factors related to road design or traffic control that may lead to crashes or make crashes more severe. In many cases, they help network highway operators and city traffic departments identify engineering weaknesses and hazardous road sections, even in the absence of robust traffic injury data. 

According to the 2018 World Health Organization (WHO) Global Status Report on Road Safetyevery 24 seconds someone dies on the road, there are 1.35 million road traffic deaths every year. Road Traffic Injuries are 8th leading cause of death, and it is the 1st cause of death among children aged 5-14 and among young adults aged 15-29. These figures suggest a startling disconnect between the theoretical merits of road infrastructure safety management and the actual results experienced by countless road users every day. 

Hence, this course looked at Road Safety Audits and Inspections comprehensively as an introduction to these useful tools. 

Learning Outcomes

  • Learn how to focus on road deficiencies that lead to severe and fatal injuries. 

  • Identify the risks of a road network. 

  • Understand the benefits, resources and liability issues associated with the Road Safety Audits / Road Safety Inspections. 

  • Understand the scope of a Road Safety Audit, and correctly utilize national and international reference manuals. 

  • Understand the role and skills of each member of a road safety audit team. 

  • Understand which data sources are available to support recommendations for remedial measures. 

Agenda

To visualize the agenda for each day, click to expand:

DAY 1 Saturday 9th October – 4 HOURS

8:30:00-10:30 [Doha Time] 

Introduction to road crash investigation(Part A) 

  • The importance of crash investigation for road safety
  • Crash causation–causes
  • The relationship between crashes and traffic offences
  • Definitions
  • Investigations and prosecutions

BREAK  

11:00-12:30 

Introduction to road crash investigation (Part B)

  • Series of events
  • Pre-crash, crash, and post-crash factors
  • The human element
  • Perception and reaction
  • Crash reporting and its importance for predictive policing and engineering interventions

Day 1 Wrap-Up

DAY 2 Sunday 10th October – 2 HOURS

17:00-19:00 [Doha Time] 

Introduction to Road Safety Audits III 

  • Most frequent problems. Check lists. 
  • Experiences in other countries 

Day 2 Wrap-up   

DAY 3 Monday 11th October – 2 HOURS

17:00-19:00 [Doha Time] 

Introduction to Road Safety Audits IV 

  • Benefits of Road Safety Measures 
  • What Works and What Does Not Work 

Day 3 Wrap-up & Conclusions  

Did you miss it? Watch now the recordings:

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

About the Instructor

Eur Ing Miguel-Angel Serrano Santos

Senior Road Safety Specialist, United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) 

Biography

Eur Ing Miguel-Angel Serrano Santos is a well-renowned Chartered Civil Engineer, who graduated from the University of Granada in Spain. At present he is working as a Senior Roads Safety Specialist for UNOPS.  

He was working previously with Ashghal (Public Works Authority), where he was responsible for managing and approving all Road Safety Audits, that were undertaken in Qatar.  

He is a Chartered member of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), Society of Road Safety Auditors (SoRSA), and the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation, and has over fifteen years of experience in transport planning and traffic engineering. Due to his extensive knowledge in the civil engineering discipline, he has successfully secured and delivered Road Safety projects internationally. 

Miguel is also the Vice-President of ASEVI (Spanish Association of Road Safety Auditors), and has successfully helped to create a corroborative relationship between engineering professionals in different countries.  

Lastly, Miguel has successfully delivered Road Safety courses to students and engineering professionals, and has been an active speaker at various conferences, seminars and universities internationally.

Organised by

In collaboration with

With support from