3. 3
Organisations:
Private Sector
GTA
Cardno
AECOM
SMEC
BMD Constructions
Thiess
Lend Lease
Trafficworks
Traffixgroup
Road Safety Audits
RSA International
O’Brien Traffic
FMG Engineering
Safe System Solutions
Robert Morgan and Associates
VicRoads
VicRoads Metro South East
VicRoads Metro North West
VicRoads Technical Consulting
VicRoads Wendouree Western Region
Councils
Maroondah City Council
Knox City Council
Shire of Yarra Ranges
Nillumbik Shire Council
Moreland City Council
Cardinia Shire Council
Boroondara City Council
Greater Bendigo City Council
Darebin City Council
Melbourne City Council
Casey City Council
Yarra City Council
Whittlesea City Council
Moonee Valley City Council
5. 5
Policy
Policies and guidelines are written with the implied perception that:
•Audit area / scope is large / large project
•A team of auditors possibly 3-5
•Extensive multiple site visits day and night
•$Well funded$
•Inception and completion meetings
6. 6
Practice
Reality: 95%* are: (*% by quantity)
• Small traffic plans, small traffic implementations,
small intersection modifications (whether it’s a large
‘project’ or not)
7. 7
Continued
• 1 lead auditor with high level of
specialised experience with a second
auditor or reviewer
• Single site visit
• (often) Not well funded
• Phone call ‘meeting’ (at best)
• Client is (often) desperate for suggestions
8. 8
Key Finding: Accreditation
‘Accreditation’ system is largely the
same as 20 years ago:
Typical requirements:
• Attend a two day workshop
• Have at least five years’ general
experience
• Participate in at least five road safety
audits
• Undertake at least one audit per year
10. 10
Quotes:
• “This is the same basic criteria from 20 years
ago when the industry was trying to get
people interested in this area”
• “The senior auditor accreditation bar is so
low that there may as well not be one”
• One company: ‘Junior-senior’ and ‘senior-
senior’
12. 12
To become a senior surgeon
• Work in a general field of medicine for 5 years
• Attend a 2-day educational workshop on surgery
• Pass the scalpel to the surgeon in five surgeries
• …and pass it again in one or two surgeries per year
• No testing, peer review, discipline mechanism, code of
conduct or ethics
13. 13
Does it matter?
The majority of audits are procured because the
designer/contractor has to (road authority requirement).
Quality can be traded off for the cost, with the safety
benefit from the audit diminished, and the value of the
process eroded.
This makes a meaningful accreditation system critical.
14. 14
Interesting Point:
Many people from road authorities
had no idea of the ‘Senior Auditor’
criteria and assumed they were
highly qualified and trained
31. 31
Client might reject the
recommendation if is not feasible
?
but fail to respond in some
other way to the audit point
Result 2:
32. 32
Key Finding: What is it and
how to use it?
Still a poor
understanding of
what it is and how it
should be used.
33. 33
• A compliance or design check
• Compare one design to another
• Arbitrate between disputing parties
• A reactive crash-countermeasure tool
rather than a proactive crash-
minimisation tool
• A literature review on a specialised topic
(e.g. rumble bars)
• A risk assessment
34. 34
“Often it’s a ‘compliance
or design check’. If not a
directly stated aim, it’s the
implication.”
35. 35
Other: Road Authorities
Feedback from within and outside
of VicRoads:
• Relying very heavily on audits
• Take them very seriously
• Very little administrative flexibility to
allow designers to question or reject
an audit point.
• Too often used to make a decision
rather than guide a decision.
36. 36
Wide range of views on:
o Independence
o Report structure and language
o Content
o Scope
o Strength and specificity of
recommendations
o The usefulness of the Austroads
risk tables
Other findings
37. 37
“the (Qld) CARRS-Q RSA course was
much more interesting than the NSW
one, but it still doesn’t teach you about
auditing. You can only learn by
experience”.
Other findings
38. 38
Road authority policy:
Still insist on ‘detailed
design’ audits for developer
funded projects and miss
concept or preliminary
design audits
Other findings
39. 39
Night site visits
“Often not required on certain
small audits such as small design
modifications, but it’s not
discretionary”
Other findings
41. 41
Road authorities / designers /
others are relying on their findings
and recommendations to influence
designs and make final decisions
about safety on our roads.
All of this matters because:
52. 52
Safe system blurb within a road safety audit:
“SS design-objectives are considered within
this road safety audit as a ‘good practice’
objective.
However, a road safety audit by definition
does not have the aim of checking ‘safe
system conformance’. Readers are reminded
to not confuse the two”.
