Konferens: 17th International Conference Road Safety on Five Continents (RS5C), 2016, Rio de Janeiro

The instruments of Road Safety Audits (RSA) and Road Safety Inspections (RSI) are part of the Road infrastructure safety management. With the official recommendations for Road safety audits this method was introduced in Germany in the year 2002. Following the European Directive 2008/96/EC and taking into account the experiences from more than 13 years of auditing the German recommendations are actualized and upgraded at the moment to a mandatory standard including RSA and RSI requirements. While the first road safety auditors in Germany were trained for motorways and rural roads the author developed together with other institutions the certification course and the RSA process for urban roads and residential roads. Germany might be the only state, where Road Safety Auditors are certified for different road categories and especially are divided into interurban and urban auditors. More than 130 auditors were certified and are now working as auditors for the urban road categories. Certificates are awarded with three years validity. Requirements for extensions are the verification of three audits and the participation in two courses. Yearly the „Symposia for road safety with auditor forums“ take part at the University of Wuppertal where actual research outputs in the field of Urban Road Safety are presented and critical audits like those for complex intersections, cycling and walking infrastructure or great residential zones are discussed. The outcome of a RSA and RSI process is a report, which identifies any road safety deficiency. Analyzing the safety deficiencies in Germany it appears that the most deficits are based upon a breach of standards and rules. The reasons for safety deficits are mostly to be found in missing coordination and in particular when the requirements from several person and institutions concerned reduce safety. For example there could be the requirement for parking facilities which are expressed by tradespeople and politicians although it hinders the visibility of an intersection. Another reason is that the sensibility of planners concerning safety is still not as high as the interest for capacity. The training of 30 engineers from the Egyptian road administration was one of the key elements of the Twinning project “Enhancing Road Safety in Egypt”. The methodology of the training combines theoretical aspects and presentations with practical case studies. The official starting point for obligatory audit reports is still to be set – however hopefully soon. In Egypt the structure of a clear hierarchy of road network is missed very often. The long term experiences with RSA and RSI courses and reports figure out that a consequent implementation and use of the benefits of these instruments can help to improve road safety and to avoid accidents.