”On what goes wrong

in road design and

how to put it right
safely” JABATAN KERJA RAYA
DAERAH KUANTAN
PAHANG DARUL MAKMUR

Introduction To
Road safety audit : Malaysian Practice
DATE : 25 / 8 / 2015, SELASA
JKR KUANTAN

PRESENTED BY : IR. MOHD SAIFUL ZAKARIA, P.Eng, MIEM

NUR HISYAM BIN TAJUL AURUS
 INTRODUCTION
Road Safety Audit may be defined as the formal examination
of the planning, design and construction of road project, and
of the characteristics and operation of an existing road by
independent and qualified examiners to identify any
potentially unsafe feature or operational arrangement that
may adversely effect the safety of any road user.
 OBJECTIVES
• The identification of potential safety hazards on new road projects, at the
appropriate stage, so that they can be eliminated or otherwise treated to
mitigate their adverse effects, at minimum cost
• The identification of hazardous features of an existing road so that they can
be eliminated or otherwise treated before they become accident prone
locations.
• To ensure that the safety requirements of all road users are explicitly
consider in the planning design, construction and operation of road projects.
 Road Safety Audit
http://www.unb.ca/transpo/rsa/RSAGuidelines.pdf

A road safety audit has been defined as:

“. . . a formal examination of an existing or future road or traffic project, or any
project that interacts with road users, in which an independent, qualified examiner reports
on the project’s accident potential and safety performance” (AUSTROADS, 1994).
 What to Look for in RSA
• Mistakes
• Lack of attention to detail
• Lack of understanding of safety issues
• Interaction of design elements
• Poor provision for vulnerable road users
• Poor or misleading design
Safety Principles
• Main Parameters
 Geometric Design
 Road Surface Characteristics
 Road Markings and Delineation
 Road Signs, Street Furniture and Appurtenances
 Traffic Management
 Road Works and Maintenance
Safety Audit Checklists
• Checking that important safety aspects are not overlooked
• Understanding of safety in design
• Provide a systematic procedure
• Provide guidelines on principle safety issues
• To be used for Audit in
 Assessment of documents/drawings
 Site inspection
 Report writing
Common Identified Problems
• Pedestrians
 Walkways not continuous
 Improper locations for crossings
 Inadequate guard rails
 Lack of dropped kerb at crossings
• Cyclists
 Absence/ Discontinuity of cycle lanes
 Obstruction from street furniture
 Lack of proper signs
• Motor Cyclists
 Slippery road surface
 Protruding manholes
• User of Public Transport
 Inadequate facilities
 Unsafe locations
• Vehicle Users
 High speed
 Inadequate, incorrect and obscured signs
 Uncontrolled accesses
 Poorly sited street furniture
 Signs/ Lamp posts in front of safety fences
 Conflict points at intersections not eliminated
 Poor visibility
 Poor skid resistance
WHAT IS
WRONG WITH
THIS DESIGN
RSA STAGE
STAGE 1 : Feasibility & Planning stage

STAGE 2 : Draft (Preliminary Design Stage)

STAGE 3 : Detailed Design Stage

STAGE 4 : The Pre Opening Stage

STAGE 5 : RSA Of An Existing Road

 STAGE 1 : Feasibility & Planning stage

It’s the earliest recognized stage and may not be applicable where this stage
will identify safety problems associated with the overall concept for a
protection, road network safety implication, route options, intersection and
interchanges types and location.
 STAGE 2 : Draft (Preliminary Design Stage)

It is at this stage that many of the traffic engineering features of a project are
established, Most of these, Such as cross section elements, intersection /
interchange layout, lane and carriageway layout, traffic control options and
alignment standards.
Photo 2: Flexible pole proposed to be extended further to proposed junction.
 STAGE 3 : Detailed Design Stage

In carrying out detailed design, designers are continually making balances and
judgments to the project. This stage will test the design decisions made against
road safety objectives and also identify potential hazards resulting from adverse
combinations of choosing a series of design criteria.
 STAGE 4 : The Pre Opening Stage
Audit at this stage involves all site inspections of a project. The actual
placement of items such as guard railing , traffic signing, street lighting,
landscapes etc .. should be given to checking that the respective needs of all
road user groups meet desirable safety standards which that will be the last
chance to make sure that the project opens to traffic in the best condition to
provide safe and efficient operations.
Photo 7: The actual placement of items such as guard railing , traffic signing, street lighting,
landscapes
 STAGE 5 : RSA Of An Existing Road

An audit at this stage will identify safety problem which develop due to the
normal ‘wear and tear’ from traffic operations and also identify hazards due to
the way of the landscaping has matured.
Photo 7: Intersection between FT 135 and FT 227 near Jabatan Taman dan Rekreasi. Auditor suggest to
provided adequate Accelerate Lane and Seagull Island To Dedicate the road user to go straight and turn left.
Cycle of Road
Safety Audit
Cased study
Ending Point of the Damage
Bridge
Damage of the Bridge Barrier
(during the crash)
1st row of bridge
barrier

2nd row of bridge

barrier

• 1st and 2nd row of bridge barrier

penetrate into the bus
 Overall Crash Dynamics

Bus entry – Principle direction of force: 12 o’clock The bus tried to correct the maneuver
The right tires on top of the median curb after the 2nd The rest position of the bus
impact
 BUS NEARSIDE FROM THE REAR

INTERNAL VIEW BUS OFFSIDE

Guardrail Failure
PRECAUTION FOR
SAFETY USER
 Intersection & Alignment
Improvement
Before After

Improved Line of Sight

 Sight Distance & Delineation
Improvement
Before After
 Visual Aid Improvement
Before After

• Kerbs were installed to properly segregate pedestrian

from motorized traffic
• Improvement of road markings
Road safety Auditing existing
road : Jln Teluk Cempedak
Photo 1: Based on site visit, auditor didn’t found any location for potential
overtaking hazardous situation based on combination of horizontal and vertical
alignment check.
Photo 2: The Existing Tree shall cut down to improve the sight distance for the
advance warning signboard. Especially at night.
Photo 3: The auditor has no objection with the proposed advance warning signboard to create alert
to the driver.
The auditor would like to suggest putting Blinkers at the Obstruction marker and Ghost Island to
be paint with thermoplastic Red colour. The transverse bar length should be extended until the first
advance warning signboard (150m)
Photo 4: Proposed Painting Scheme for All Ghost Island.
Photo 5: All the traffic signage has put in correct location hence there is no objection.
Photo 6: 1. End of guard rail to be extended and plug to the gabion wall.
2. Opening for vehicle to turn right to be provided road stud at the ghost
island area and to be painted with thermoplastic red in colour.
Photo 7: Intersection between FT 135 and FT 227 near Jabatan Taman dan Rekreasi. Auditor
suggest to provided adequate Accelerate Lane and Seagull Island To Dedicate the road user to go
straight and turn left.
Photo 8: 1. Intersection of New construct road with FT 227 (Jalan Tengku Mahmud)Taper
lane width to be widening to give better turning radius for road user.
2. Ghost island marking to be repainting with thermoplastic red in colour paint. Street
lighting to be provided both side.
Photo 9: Taper length with ghost island for turn left vehicle to be provided, stop line and seagull island to be
provided to dedicate the road user to turn right.
Photo 10: Storage lane line marking to be provided, seagull island and line marking for
through lane
Photo 11: Island to be provided to avoid trap lane, Through lane to be widening.
Photo 12: Island to be provided to avoid trap lane, Through lane to be widening.
Photo 13: Taper lane to be realigned.
Photo 14: Example of good treatment for 3 legged stop control junction
Photo 15: Stop line to be provided and no turn right signage to be provided at small T
junction.
 Road safety audits can provide increased
safety in two ways
• By removing preventable accident-producing elements, such as
inappropriate intersection layouts, at the planning and design stages; or

• By mitigating the effects of remaining or existing problems by the

inclusion of suitable crash-reducing features, such as anti-skid
surfacing, guard fencing, traffic control devices, and delineation.
Benefits of conducting a road
safety audit
• Reduce the risk (including probability and severity)of accidents on new projects and
at interfaces with existing roads;

• Increase the prominence of road safety in the minds of all involved in the planning,
design, construction, and maintenance of the project;

• Reduce the whole life cost of the project by reducing the number of post-opening
modifications; and

• Ensure inclusion of all road users rather than the traditional focus on the
automobile.
CONCLUSION
The auditor has visited and inspected the site. In addition,
related drawings have been studied. The issue highlight before
such as guardrail, transverse bar, sight distance, Ghost Island,
storage lane, seagull island is highly recommended. Hence,
recommendations are put forward for consideration and
implementation. With everybody’s commitment, hopefully the
accident occurrence and accident severity will reduce
significantly in our country.
QUESTIONS?
Thank you