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Road safety audit

Rules and regulations

Road safety issues are adequately and directly integrated into the technical regulations governing the planning, construction and operation of roads in Germany. Nevertheless, analyses have shown that some newly planned roads are characterised by a significant number of crashes.

In order to give greater consideration to road safety in road planning, the "Recommendations for the Road Safety Audit (ESAS)" were drawn up by the Road and Transportation Research Association (FGSV) at the instigation of the former Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development (BMVBS) and under the direction of the Federal Highway Research Institute (BASt). In 2002, the application of the ESAS to all planning and design of newly built roads, re-built roads and extended roads as a basis for the acceptance of individual work phases or for quality assurance was recommended by the BMVBS.

Road safety audits already were subject of the "Directive 2008/96/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19.11.2008 on road infrastructure safety management" (published in the EU Official Journal of 29.11.2008, L 319/59) announced by the European Commission (COM), which aim was to raise the level of road infrastructure safety on the Trans-European Road Network (TEN-T) throughout the EU. In ‘General Circular Road Construction’ no. 26/2010, the federal states were requested to introduce the methods specified in this directive, including the safety audit, on the trans-European road network by the deadline of 19 December 2010. Application on the remaining federal trunk roads is was defined as desirable and recommended for the secondary road network (state and district roads).

The picture shows a drawing to the road safety audit

At the latest when the EU Directive 2008 was transposed into national law, the safety audit was considered as a standard procedure in the planning stage in Germany. The FGSV Working Committee 2.7 "Road Safety Audit" has therefore further developed the ESAS into "Guidelines for the Safety Audit of Roads (RSAS 2019)". In addition to the established safety audit for planning, an occasion-related and targeted road safety audit for roads in operation was also developed. The aim of this targeted road safety audit is to identify safety deficits, particularly based on site inspections, and to propose appropriate countermeasures if necessary. This results in a wide range of applications for the road safety audit:

  1. Safety audits for the planning of road constructions (preliminary planning to 1st operating phase)
  2. Safety audits for the planning of maintenance projects (maintenance concepts)
  3. Safety audits for roads in operation in anticipation of construction/maintenance measures
  4. Safety audits for roads in operation, for other reasons, for example a high accident concentration

The 2008 EU Directive was also updated at the same time. With the implementation of Directive 2019/1936 of the European Parliament and the Council on 17 December 2019, the directive on road infrastructure safety management was amended. It was transposed into national law with ARS 25/2021 by the BMDV. As a significant change, the scope of the EU directive was extended to all roads which are part of the trans-European road network being planned, under construction or in operation, including motorways and so called ‘primary roads’ outside urban areas that connect large cities and/or regions and belong to the highest road category below the ‘motorway’ category in the national road classification. It also applies for roads financed using Union funding.

According to ARS 25/2021, this new requirement is intended to ensure that road safety audits are now to be carried out for all planning and designs of new construction, rebuild and upgrading measures on Federal Trunk Roads using the RSAS 2019. Road safety audits must be carried out in all planning and construction stages, from preliminary planning to completion through to the first operational phase after opening to traffic.

With regard to the targeted road safety audit for roads in operation, it should be noted that this is pushed by the requirements of the amended EU directive. In accordance with the Directive, targeted road safety audits or direct remedial measures must be carried out as a result of the network-wide road safety assessments being carried out according to Article 5 of the EU Directive (see Article 6a of the EU Directive). ARS 25/2021 states that the detailed analysis required under Article 6a should be carried out on the basis of safety audits for roads in operation in accordance with the RSAS 2019.

Deficit lists

The RSAS, unlike the ESAS, no longer contain checklists to assist in conducting an audit. Instead, in future deficit lists for planning and inventory audits are to be provided in an Excel-based program tool and continuously supplemented on the basis of safety research or the updating of the design rules. While the development of the program tool is still in progress, the lists of deficits will initially be offered for download as a simple table (only available in German).

Training and certification

In the past, several research projects on the development of training concepts for auditors were conducted on behalf of BASt. These projects were supported by the Committee 2.7 "Safety Audit of Roads" and their results were published in the BASt publication series, sub-series Traffic Engineering. Thus, two training concepts for the external training of auditors are available: One for non-urban roads and cross-town links (GDV/Bauhaus Universität Weimar/FGSV) and another one for urban roads (issue V 134). Moreover a training concept was developed especially for the road authorities and their internal training of auditors (issue V 126). These results built an important input for the ‘Leaflet for the Training and Certification of Road Safety Auditors’ (MAZS) of the FGSV finalised in 2008, in which the prerequisites for the training, the contents and the procedure of the training as well as the proof of performance for the certification are regulated.

Due to the new RSAS, the FGSV working group 2.7.2 has meanwhile revised the MAZS and presented it as the "Leaflet for the Training and Certification for Road Safety Audit (MAZS), Edition 2022" (https://www.fgsv-verlag.de/mazs). Regarding federal trunk roads the use of the leaflet has been established by the BMDV due to the General Circular on Road Construction No. 17/2022. In addition, the BMDV suggested that the road authorities of the Federal States should do the same for their road networks.

The prerequisites for participation in a certification course according to MAZS are proficiency in road safety, planning and design of road traffic facilities, and a relevant university degree as basic qualifications. Additionally, at least two years of professional experience of road planning or assessment of road safety traffic facilities are required.

The training must be completed with a personal test. Upon successful completion, the trainees receive a certificate as an auditor. The certificate is issued by the recognised training institute and shows the completed training modules. The certificate is valid until the end of the third calendar year after the date of issue. Prerequisite for an extension for a further 3 years by the training institute are at least 3 conducted safety audits and the participation of at least 2 suitable advanced training events during the certificate validity period.

In order to support the further dissemination of the safety audit, BASt publishes a list of training institutes that offer training for auditors in accordance with the MAZS (only available in German).

List of certified planning and inventory auditors

BASt maintains a list of auditors who have completed training in accordance with the established training concepts. The list includes the certified auditors who have given their consent to this publication. For each auditor the information is presented for which road type the training as an auditor has been performed (only available in German).