1. at National Road Safety Conference Karachi
Road Safety Audit
A Promising Approach For Pakistan at
National Road Safety Conference
Karachi
24th April, 2007
by:
Mr. Aizaz Ahmed. PE, PTOE
Executive Director
NATIONAL ROAD SAFETY SECRETARIAT
Ministry of Communications
Government Of Pakistan
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2. Presentation Overview
Road Safety- A Global Issue
Economic and social effect
What is a road safety audit?
Why do we need RSAs?
RSA Process
When do we conduct RSAs?
RSA Team Composition
RSA Cost and Benefits
Barriers in RSA implementations in Pakistan
Recommendations and the way ahead
Conclusion
In this section, we will answer these questions:
What is a road safety audit?
Why do we need RSAs? In addition to convincing ourselves on this point, we would also discuss;
When do we conduct RSAs? Audits can be conducted very early in the design process (or even at the planning stage), or after the road is finished and operating. We will discuss stages at which audits can be conducted.
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3. Road Safety- A Global Issue
About 1.2 million people die in road crashes every year .
Leading cause of death among young people between
10-24 years.
Almost 85% of the road deaths occur in Low-Middle level courtiers.
Poor are disproportionately affected, with most of the victims being pedestrian, bicyclist, motorcyclists and passenger of public transport riders and with more than half of them between ages of 15 to 44 years.
Road crashes have serious social and economic implications.
Direct economic cost for road crashes is US$5I8 billion globally- and US$65 billion for low-income countries.
15-44 Work Productive class of society
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4. Road Safety- A Global Issue
If concrete steps are not taken, by 2020, RTC would become 3rd leading threat to human health worldwide.
(Source: 1998 World Disasters Report: International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and TRL, UK.)
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5. Reported Fatal and Non-Fatal Crashes In Pakistan
Fatal Accidents: 4193, Non-Fatal: 5932, Total : 10,125. This should be noted here that these are “reported” fatalities and not the “actual” number of fatalities due to RTCs.
A research project which is currently underway in collaboration with Jinnah Post Medical College (JPMC) and NED engineering university, revealed over 9000, RTI Cases in 4 months while only 1176 cases were reported to police (only 6%).
Meo Hospital 15,000 RTI cases in 2006, whereas, Punjab Traffic Police reported ( =2210) Urban Areas RTC Causalities
Scale of under-reporting
These are reported crashes and not total crashes in Pakistan
Despite of high rate of motorization curve is flat from
Reported Statistics are not reflecting the depth of the problem.
National injury survey of pakistan 15 RTI per 1000 person- 2million RTI in Pakistan
SEA 18.6 mortalities per 100,000 population- estimated fatlitis in Pakistan 25,000
Source: National Police Bureau
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6. Economic Cost
Economic cost of road crashes and injuries is estimated to be 1.5% of the GNP for developing countries.
111.6 billion rupees for Pakistan.
However, the loss is more than just numbers, as Road traffic injuries push many families more deeply into poverty by the loss of their breadwinners and inflict a tremendous continuous burden on the disabled victims and their families; and on health care system.
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7. Social Cost
The mortality rate due to RTC in South East Asia is 18.6 per 100,000 population, hence, the estimated fatalities per year in Pakistan are about 25,000 .
National Injury Survey of Pakistan conducted in 1997 of serious injuries are 41.2 per 1000 persons per year. Road Traffic Injuries (RTI) was the most common cause (36%).
Estimated injuries in Pakistan are 2 million per year
Study in Bangladesh raveled the 32% fatalities are of head of the family.
The loss of earning head and medical bills can have a ruinous effect on a family’s finance.
For every victim of a crash, there are family members, friends, and communities who must cope with the physical and psychological consequences of the death, injury or disability of a loved one
15 RTI per 1000 people in Pakistan based on National Injury Survey
1500 per 100,000 person, Fatality 18.6 per 100,000 in South East Asia
1.24% of total injury
Islamabad, RTC statistics confirmed the mortality rate for South East Asia= 171 fatalities/8,00000= 21 fatalities per 100,000 population.
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8. Distribution of Injuries by Causes in Pakistan
Source:- National Action Plan for Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable
Diseases and Heath Promotion In Pakistan (Page-90)
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9. What Engineering Sector can do about Road Safety Problem?
Vehicle Engineering
Highway Engineering
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10. What is a Road Safety Audit
A Road Safety Audit is a formal examination of future and existing roadway, in which an independent and qualified audit team reports on safety issues.
Road Safety Audit offers a viable alternate which can be applied successfully in Pakistan to correct safety problems on our roads. RSA is a proactive approach to improve road safety. The step by step procedure of Road Safety Audit can be performed during any or all stages of a project, including planning, preliminary design, detailed design and construction of a future or on existing roadway. RSA can also be performed at Master level development level.
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11. A road safety audit also…
Considers the safety of all road users
Examines the interaction of project elements
May proactively consider mitigation measures
It is also important to note that the RSA team may need to consider the safety performance of the project from the perspective of all road users. The graphic shows a passenger car, pedestrian, pedal cyclist, motorcyclist, and large truck. Participants may be able to name other possible road users, such as public safety vehicles (police or fire), maintenance vehicles, older drivers, etc.
How do various project elements interact, especially combinations of minimum standards? For example, what are the implications of providing a minimum-radius curve on an approach to an intersection where the minimum stopping sight distance is provided? Can vehicles (especially trucks) safely brake?
An RSA does not simply identify potential problems – it may also identify potential solutions. Some questionable elements may be unavoidable in a design, such as where there are constraints (geometric, fiscal, etc.) that limit the project. An RSA can identify possible mitigation measures to address these risks. For example, limited land availability may result in the need to incorporate a horizontal curve having a radius below the minimum design value for anticipated speeds. The RSA can identify potential measures to identify this hazard (appropriate signing) and induce lower approach speeds (narrower lanes or transverse rumble strips), which can be implemented at reasonable expense during construction.
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12. Objective of RSA
The objectives of road safety audit are to identify potential safety risks for road users and to ensure that measures to eliminate or reduce the risks are fully considered
The aim of an RSA is to answer the following questions:
What elements of the road may present a safety concern: to what extent, to which road users, and under what circumstances?
What opportunities exist to eliminate or mitigate identified safety concerns within available resources?
Road safety audit works in two ways to ensure that safety is improved, namely by removing preventable crash producing elements at the planning & design stage and by mitigating the effects of any remaining risks by the inclusion of suitable crash-reducing elements.
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13. Road Safety Audit Is: Focused on road safety. A formal examination.
Proactive in nature.
Conducted by a multidisciplinary team (typically 3-5 auditors).
Conducted by an audit team that is independent of the design team.
Conducted by an audit team that is adequately qualified, both individually and as a team.
Broad enough to consider the safety of all road users and road facilities.
Qualitative in nature.
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14. Road Safety Audit Is Not!
Not a means to evaluate, praise or critique design work.
Not a means of ranking or justifying one project over another.
Not a means of rating one design option over another.
Not a redesign of a project.
Not a crash investigation or crash data analysis (although the crash history of an existing road is reviewed to make sure that previous crash patterns have been addressed).
Not a design quality control or standard compliance check.
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15. Why do we need RSAs?
Rapid increase in vehicle ownership have placed considerable pressure on the existing road networks
Relatively few road-related safety issues are identified in collision reports.
Road designs need to anticipate and accommodate common driver errors.
Easier to design and build safer roads than to modify some entrenched driver behaviors.
RSA offers a multidisciplinary preventive approach and can be successfully applied on roadway design project or on an existing roadway.
Main advantage of the RSA for existing facilities particularly in Pakistan scenario is that it can be performed at locations where no crash data is available. Roads authorities are focused mainly on building the network and often little to no effort is placed on operational and safety aspects. Such roads generally have poor road side design, sign and markings and junctions are rarely channelized.
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16. Benefits of RSA
Safer roadway through road crash prevention and road crash severity reduction..
A proactive approach to road safety as it can address road safety issues even before road crashes occur.
Foster a safety conscious design among owner and designer.
More explicit consideration of the safety needs of vulnerable road users.
Cross fertilization between Specialist within a highway agency (e.g. Design, Maintenance, Traffic etc.)
Can be performed at locations where no crash data is available such as on newly built roadway.
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17. Benefits of RSA (Contd)
Allow for a more detailed and systematic review of field condition by utilizing detailed prompt list.
Multisectoral RSA team brings diversified skills and experience of identifying road safety issues other then engineering such as enforcement and road user behaviors issues.
May help produce designs that reduce the number and severity of crashes.
May reduce costs by identifying safety issues and correcting them before projects are built.
Promote awareness of safe design practices.
Integrate multimodal safety concerns.
Consider human factors in all facets of road project.
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18. RSA Process

19. RSA include eight steps
Identify project or existing road to be audited.
Select RSA Team
Conduct a pre-audit meeting to review project information
Perform field reviews under various conditions
Conduct audit analysis and prepare report of findings
Present audit findings to Project Owner/Design Team
Prepare formal response
Incorporate findings into the project when appropriate
Step 1: Identify project or existing road to be audited. As a result of this step, the project or existing road to be audited is determined and the parameters for a RSA are set. Public agency/ Project owner s responsible for this step. For those existing facilities where no crash data is available anecdotal data such as newspaper clips, reports, personal knowledge of the area by locals or patrolling police officer should be used to identify location for RSA.
Step 2: Select RSA Team As a result of this step, an independent, qualified, and multidisciplinary team of experts suitable for the specific RSA stage is selected by the Project owner/Public agency.
Step 3: Conduct a pre-audit meeting to review project information The meeting brings together the project owner, the design team and the audit team to discuss the context, scope and schedule of the RSA and review all project information available. The project owner and the RSA team leader should set a schedule for key dates such as presentation of the RSA findings to the project owner and design team, and for preparation of the response report. These dates may be critical to the project schedule. Clear understanding and adherence to them will minimize any delay.
Step 4: Perform field reviews under various conditions The objective of project data review is to gain insight into the project or existing road, prepare for the field visit and identify areas of safety concerns. The field visit is used to get further insight into the project or existing road and to further verify/identify areas of safety concern.
Step 5: Conduct audit analysis and prepare report of findings As a result of this step, the safety issues are identified and prioritized and suggestions are made for reducing the degree of safety risk. At this stage, the project owner should work with the RSA team leader to specify requirements for the content and format of the RSA report and the response report. The RSA results are then succinctly summarized in the formal RSA report.
Step 6: Present audit findings to Project Owner/Design Team In this step, audit team orally reports the key RSA findings to the project owner and design team in order to facilitate the understanding of RSA findings.
Step 7: Prepare formal response Once submitted, the formal response becomes an essential part of the project documentation. It outlines what actions the project owner and/or design team will take in response to each safety issue listed in the RSA report and why some of the RSA suggestions could not be implemented.
Step 8: Incorporate findings into the project when appropriate This final step ensures that the corrective measures outlined in the response report are completed as described and in the time frame documented.
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21. RSA Team Independent Experienced Multidisciplinary 4/24/2007
Also as part of Step 1, the road agency must select the RSA team.
One of the important consideration in selecting the RSA team is its independence: the audit team should have had no previous involvement in the design or operation of the audited site (other than a previous stage of the RSA). In this way, the RSA team members should be independent of the project being audited, so they can look at the project with “fresh eyes”, or without bias.
Most or all of the audit team members (most importantly the team leader) should have some previous experience in conducting road safety audits.
A Multidisciplinary team brings required and specialist expertise to the audit process.
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22. Composition Of RSA Team
Road Safety Specialist
Traffic Operations Engineer
Road Design Engineer
Local Contact Person
Other areas of specialty
Road Safety Specialist – The individual should have recognized expertise in the understanding of causal factors that lead to crashes and effective treatments that would address the occurrence of such crashes. The person should be actively involved in conducting road safety audits or evaluations have sufficient knowledge, skill and experience in road safety engineering, road crash investigation and analysis, crash prevention programs, traffic engineering and road planning.
Traffic Operations Engineer – The individual should be qualified in the field of traffic operations and know the principles of traffic flow, the relationship between capacity and demand, and what causes congestion. This person should have an understanding of the proper placement and use of signs, pavement markings, traffic signal operations and the impact of different treatments on traffic operations. A traffic operations engineer may be critical for urban projects where congestion is more of an issue. It is to be noted here, that congestion has direct bearing on road safety as drivers’ frustration leads to more risky maneuvering.
Road Design Engineer – The individual should have extensive road design experience and be familiar with road safety design standards. They should understand how different roadway and roadside elements contribute to the relative safety of road users, including both vehicular traffic and vulnerable road users (such as pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcyclist), and be familiar with human factors consideration for road facilities design particularly in urban set up.
Local Contact Person – The individual should be familiar with the area under review and the traffic safety issues experienced there. A police officer or constable stationed at intersection within study area would be ideal to fill this role or shopkeeper in area who observe traffic on daily basis can provide very valuable input. Local community representative can also provide information about local culture and typical behavior of road user in the area. Presence of local person in the team is particularly important for an existing facility RSA
Other areas of specialty – Specialists in human factors, maintenance, enforcement, first response, pedestrian and bicycle treatments, Public transit operations etc should also be called in to provide specific input in their areas of expertise if needed.
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23. RSA Prompt List
An effective tool for RSA team to identify safety issues and to ensure that they do not overlook something important
The prompt lists may also be used by designers to help them identify potential safety issues proactively as they develop their design.
They are not a substitute for knowledge and experience; rather, they are an aid in the application of knowledge and experience.
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24. When do we conduct RSAs? Pre-construction:
Land Use/Master Planning phase
planning / feasibility
preliminary (draft) design
detailed design
Construction:
work zones
pre-opening
Post-construction/operational:
existing roads
RSAs can be done at any stage of a project’s life. For simplicity’s sake, we have grouped them into three categories:
The pre-construction (“design stage”) RSA looks at a roadway before it is built, at the planning/feasibility stage or the design (preliminary or detailed design) stage. The earlier a pre-construction RSA is conducted, the more potential it has to identify potential safety issues before they cause collisions.
Construction RSAs are work-zone audits to examine temporary traffic management plans associated with construction or other roadworks, and can also be conducted when construction is completed but before the roadway is opened to traffic.
The post-construction or operational (“in-service”) RSA looks at a road that has been built and is operating.
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25. Land Use/ Master Planning Phase RSA
Ensure trip reduction measures are incorporated.
Viable alternative to private motorized transportation are planned and incentives are build in to encourage people to switch from higher risk mode to lower risk mode.
Efficient road network is planned where shortest or quickest routes coincide with the safest route.
Ensure Public facilities those expect to generate heavy pedestrian activities such as schools and masajids should not be located along high speed arteries.
Studies conducted in high income countries reveals that for 1 % reduction in motor vehicle distance traveled, there is % reduction in road crashes. At this stage RSA will focus on future growth, reducing unnecessary trips, connection to major routes and safety of inter-modal connections
Since development projects have a great potential to change the traffic volumes, traffic patterns, vehicle mix, road environment, or user perception of the road, a development RSA would consider the internal layout of the new development as well as impacts to the existing road network.
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26. Planning Stage RSA
Deals with traffic safety aspects of the initial design and
Choice of route alignment, number and types of junctions, spacing of intersections/interchanges, cross section, multi-mode transportation connections, service to local communities and facilities covered in this phase.
Planning projects, by their nature, have little information about the details of the design. A preliminary layout or route may be available along with information about the basic design issues (e.g., functional classification, general intersection configuration). Despite limited information, at this stage there may be significant opportunity to incorporate safety enhancements into the design at the lowest cost.
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27. Preliminary Design Stage RSA
Examines the general alignment, cross- section, and proposed layout of junctions.
The RSA suggestions may include: changes to access points, horizontal and/or vertical alignments, provision of a median, lane and shoulder width, provision of bicycle lanes and sidewalks, channelization, landscaping, lighting, etc.
At this stage plans are typically 30-40% complete, and projects should have sufficient information about the details of the design, such as alignment and grade or lane and shoulder widths, so that the auditors may begin to identify critical design details and make suggestions regarding safety.
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28. Detailed Design Stage RSA
The audit team's last opportunity to review the design before it is finalized and construction begins.
Efforts to undertake major physical changes in the design at this stage may be both time-consuming and expensive, and may delay project tendering.
The focus of the RSA is on examining the detailed design of junctions, proposed road markings, roadside furniture, and proposed alignment to identify potential hazards resulting from adverse combinations of design elements (e.g., vertical and horizontal alignment).
At this stage, plans are 60-80% complete.
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29. Construction Phase Road Safety Audits
Work Zone Traffic Control Plan RSAs.
Changes in Design During Construction RSAs.
Pre-opening RSAs.
Construction RSAs are generally performed during preparations for construction, during actual construction, and during the pre-opening period. In this phase, the audit team may actually view the project as-built, along with the final detailed plans, so that their review may be more comprehensive.
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30. RSA of Work Zone Traffic Control Plan
RSA could be done before the project is tendered to construction, before the work zone is open to traffic, and/or after it is open.
safety of all temporary roadways and transition areas
appropriateness of all traffic control devices for whole day and night conditions.
think about the other road users besides passenger automobile operators
RSAs may be conducted to ensure that safety is adequately considered in the Maintenance and Protection of raffic (MPT) Plan. When performing this type of RSA , the team needs to be mindful of several issues.
Team need to think about the other road users besides passenger automobile operators (e.g., construction workers, pedestrians, including the disabled; bicyclists; large trucks; school buses; etc.) because work areas often fail to properly accommodate users from these other groups.
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31. Pre-Opening Stage RSA
Offer another opportunity for the team to consider the safety aspects of the design before the facility is opened to the public.
Review must be comprehensive and thorough including inspections both at day and night conditions.
The RSA suggestions will likely focus on changes to illumination, signs, delineation, pavement markings, roadside barriers, removal or protection of fixed object hazards and minor structural changes (e.g., addition of a wheelchair ramp).
These RSAs are similar in nature to detailed design RSAs. It should be noted that this is the first time the reviewers will be able to actually see and drive (walk, bicycle) the facility in its finished state instead of relying on the design plans.
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32. Existing Roads RSA
The real objective for this type of RSA is to identify road safety issues for different road users that might result in a crash. For this reason, RSAs of existing roads are proactive.
Available crash data are used to validate RSA results and make sure that existing safety problems are not overlooked.
RSAs of existing roads may be conducted even if crash data is not available.
It cover area of interventions, such as enforcement and education to target certain risky behavior identified.
RSAs of existing roads are conducted on a previously opened roadway or intersection. This type of RSA is somewhat different from those conducted during the pre-construction or construction phases. As a part of reviewing project information the analysis of existing crash data can be made to identify crash pattern.
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33. Costs of Road Safety Audit
The Audit costs (mainly the time of the auditors/team)
Redesign costs if any
Any increased project cost through identified remedial works
Although concerns have been raised that the use of road safety audits would increase an agency’s liability, in fact, just the opposite is true.
Cost of the RSA would depend upon many factors such as length of roadway, environment of roadway and phase of the roadway e.g. designed or existing roadway to be audited.
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34. Potential Benefits
Savings in time and cost by correcting the problem at early stage.
Reductions in the number of crashes and the consequent savings in road crash-related costs.
Reductions in possible litigation costs.
Saving in cost of congestion related to road crashes
Australian and New Zealand experience suggest that RSA can add upto a maximum of 4 % to the cost of a road project. However, this has to be reviewed against the potential benefits such as
Savings in time and cost by changing project details at the planning and design stage rather than the more expensive option of removing or changing road infrastructure once installed.
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35. Benefits To Cost Ratio Of RSA
Scotland has estimated a benefit: Cost (B/C) ratio of 15:1
New Zealand has estimated the ratio to be closer to 20:1.
These are the B/C ratio in developed countries where road safety engineering practices are much better as compare to developing courtiers. B/C ratio of RSA in Pakistan is expected to be much higher.
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36. Barriers in A Successful Implementation of RSA in Pakistan
In highway agencies, Road safety is NOT a high priority when it comes to allocating financial and human resources.
No established Safety Design Standards.
Lack of Institutional capacity in Road Safety and Road Safety Champions within highway agencies.
No formal coordination and data sharing among agencies on road safety.
Unavailability of trained Traffic Operation Engineers and Road Safety Auditors.
Lack of training and educational opportunities to road safety professional.
Dependency on high cost international Consultants.
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37. Recommendations And The Way Ahead
Develop training program for RSA.
Traffic Engineering and Road Safety Courses should be taught both at undergraduate and graduate level in Pakistan universities.
Establish Regional multi-sector Road Safety Coordinating Committee who could overview major RSA Project.
Develop database for RSA findings particularly for design phase and share it with other relevant agencies to avoid these design shortfall in future project and utilize the same to improve road design standards.
RSA should be made mandatory for all projects costing Rs. 10 Million or more.
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38. Recommendations And The Way Ahead
Establish Traffic Engineering & Safety Directorate
National Policy on Road Safety should be made covering both preventive and post-crash aspects of Road Safety encompassing initiatives such as RSA.
RSA procedure should be developed and updated regularly with input from highway agencies.
Designate a monitory organization to perform Quality Assurance/Quality Control on major RSAs.
Establish Traffic Engineering & Safety Directorate within public highway agencies to take responsibility for the safety and operational aspects of the road network. Such directorate monitors the network and identifies congested or unsafe locations for improvement. In doing so, they often build up unique insights into the range of circumstances that can contribute to road crashes.
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39. Conclusion
RSA is a formal systematic procedure that translates traffic safety knowledge and experience into safe planning, design and operation of roadways. Through application of RSA, we can design and maintain our roads considering the needs of all road users with focus on reducing potential risks and hence making our roadways safer.
The biggest obstacle to RSA success in Pakistan is lack of trained and experienced Road Safety Experts. Therefore, developing training programs in the area of road safety and creating an understanding of importance of traffic engineering functions in roadway design and operation is the vital step to improve road safety in our country.
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