DESIGN MANUAL for ROADS and BRIDGES PART 1b) - ROAD SAFETY AUDITS 2009

Typical Audit Issues

Designing for All Road Users
Auditors need to view the road designs from the point of all road users but
particularly the slow and vulnerable users. The most important road user for the
auditor is usually the pedestrian. Often the largest volumes of pedestrians are young
school pupils. Adequate provision needs to be made for them outside the
carriageway. Pedestrians are recorded in around 47% of Fatalities.

Photo 1: Large numbers of pedestrians with nowhere to walk other than in the roadway.
Especially on lightly trafficked roads this can be a major safety concern.

Photo 2: Good Design & Maintenance of Shoulders Greatly Improves Safety for All Road
Users

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Photo 3: Careful design can ensure that pedestrians & others can use a track at the road
side well away from motorised traffic

Photo 4: There should be wide well maintained shoulders on all rural school approaches

Photo 5: Series of humped Zebras crossing around school entrances helps control vehicle
speed and allows pedestrians to cross safely. Continuation of footpath needs to be
ensured

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Photo 6: Unsurfaced waiting area will not be

used when wet resulting in pedestrians waiting
the roadway

Photo 7: Well maintained

footway with adequate provision
for flow of pedestrians. But no
defined crossing point and note
use of footway by a 4WD vehicle
in the background

Photo 8: Matatus & Buses are involved in up to 38% of Fatalities. Adequate provision for
waiting and picking up/dropping off passengers needs to be provided clear of the main
roadway. Assessment of likely volumes of both passengers and vehicles needs to be
accommodated

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Photo 9: A well located Bus Bay and Crossing. The crossing allows pedestrians to be seen
from both directions, and the sealed shoulder provides a continuous surfaces route

Photos 10 and 11: NMT is an Important Factor on Kenyan Roads and segregation or
alternative routing needs to be considered through the design

Signs and markings

The effectiveness of signs is often dictated by their setting and surroundings. A
colourful background can be detrimental to visibility of small signs. Even the larger
signs can be overpowered by a strong background colour.

The attention of road users can be distracted by the location of conspicuous

advertisements behind or near signs. Indeed signs can be missed if flashing or
brilliantly illuminated advertisements are present.

These points should be considered when siting new traffic signs and in the exercise
of the control of advertisements under general planning regulations.

If a poor or distracting background cannot be avoided, it may be partially screened by

a backing board to a sign. Further detail is provided in the Traffic Signs Manual.

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Photo 12 Important standard signs are sometimes lost in the confusion of the local scene

Photo 13: Large advertising boards should be away from junctions & other critical locations to
prevent driver distraction and only required traffic signs should be provided

Geometric Design
Horizontal & Vertical Geometry
Poor forward visibility on crests can be a serious safety hazard but is not normally a
problem with latest design standards. There is always a problem on horizontal bends
if signing and delineation is inadequate. Auditors should always check all major

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bends to see whether upgraded signing, road markings, traffic calming devices,
delineators or guardrails are needed. Photo 14 Illustration of Possible “Speed
Management” treatment for a tight bends in Kenya

Widening on a curve also helps prevent the most serious head-on crashes and gives
all road users extra safety margin long uphill gradients may require a climbing lane

Photo 15: Widening for Climbing Lane is Very Important for Safety on Long Gradients

Photo 16: The ends of Climbing Lanes need to be well marked & signed to ensure that
merging of slower moving vehicles can take place safely; advance warning of
the end of the climbing lane is needed. None has been provided in this
instance

Long down hill sections of road will always need special attention to reduce speeds
at the first bend, community or hazard as shown in photo of bend measures above.
The auditor always needs to check all “Departure from Standards” to see that the
safety needs have been addressed.

Cross Sections

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The choice of cross-section types is normally made based on the traffic volume of
motorised vehicles, design speed, and the road functions. Other features such as
shoulders suitable for pedestrians, cyclists and other slow vehicles, bus bays, lay-bys
and rest areas are often a secondary concern and thus need special attention by the
auditor.

Photo 17 typical rural cross section showing relationship of running lanes, sealed
shoulder and shallow open ditches.

The choice of the side ditch can greatly affect the ability of the pedestrians and NMT
to move safely and also increase the severity of crashes of vehicles that run of the
road. Ditches
• Should not impede pedestrian movement
• Should have a shallow slopes
• Should minimize damage to vehicles that run off the road
• Should have an adjacent “clear zone” where possible, free of
trees and rocks

Tiredness is a big killer of drivers and their passengers and thus the provision of
roadside amenities is an important topic for auditors to review in the designs. Lay-
bys, rest areas, service areas and other well designed road side facilities, including
restaurants, shops and toilets can all add to the safety of the road. There should
always be adequate stopping and parking areas alongside the road not on the
shoulder.

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Photo 18: Large areas of land may be needed at facilities specifically designed for trucks

4.4 Junctions & Intersections

Too many crashes happen at junctions when motorists are taken by surprise and
their speeds are too high to safely negotiate through the location. There should
always be sufficient information before and at the road to help the motorists. If
motorists are confused it is usually the pedestrians and other vulnerable road users
that suffer.

Photo 19: A humped pedestrian crossing on approach to a roundabout is effective in slowing

drivers and making them aware of the potential conflicts ahead

Photo 20: By contrast, the skid marks & demolished column at this roundabout without
humps on approach shows the effect of higher uncontrolled approach speeds.

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Traffic Calming
Application of traffic calming measures in Kenya is in most cases limited to the
construction of road humps. The results the of the World Bank Sub-Saharan Africa
Transport Program (SSATP) indicate that low cost interventions, with a high
benefit/cost ratio, can improve traffic safety and traffic flow efficiency considerably
and have a lasting effect.

A Paper entitled “Urban road design in Africa: the role of traffic calming facilities”
(Reference 12), examined a range of traffic calming interventions that were
implemented in 1996-99 in Tanzania. Extracts are shown below concerning the
effectiveness of raised zebra crossings and well designs bus & minibus facilities

So-called Raised Zebra Crossings (RZC) give very good value for money as a traffic
calming measure. They create a strong improvement in traffic safety for pedestrians
(safer crossing in particular), two wheelers (safer driving on the carriageway), and
motor vehicles (less collisions), and also influence the fluidity of the traffic flow
positively by reducing large speed differences between vehicles. In that manner they
increase road capacity. In addition, RZC’s turn out to influence the stopping-for
passengers behaviour of informal public transport vehicles in a way that can be
utilised to significantly reduce the delays that this behaviour causes (see below under
bus bays).”

“The conclusion is that bays for minibuses give high value for money, once the
following requirements are met: proper size (large) and frequency along the bus
route, combination with paved passenger platform, location at points that logically
connect with walking routes, combination with RZC for low motor vehicle speed near
the stop and safe pedestrian crossing, combination with a road design that prohibits
stopping on road shoulders outside bus bays.

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Photo 21: A rounded hump zebra crossing on A104 slows traffic and allows safe crossing on
an otherwise high speed road. Adequate warning signs need to be provided and the footpath
provision made continuous

On most upgraded or new rural roads, there is always a problem to slow high speed
traffic down on the approach to and through villages and towns. A single speed limit
sign or town name is usually not effective. There needs to be very eye catching
features at the community boundary, commonly called a “gateway”
The “Gateway” typically includes:
• Double, illuminated speed limit signs
• Double village name signs
• Double road safety messages
• Street lighting
• Coloured road surface
• Narrowing through wide edge markings
• Speed limit marked on road

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Photo 22 Kenya Arch – This could incorporate a significant Community Gateway as

illustrated below.

Photo 23. Illustration of possible gateway with speed limits, messages, town name &
rumble bars

Speed Management
A Manual published in 2008 by the World Health Organisation, FIA, Global Road
Safety Partnership and the World Bank, (Reference 11), emphasizes the importance
of speed in the severity of crashes and identifies ways of addressing the problem.

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This manual advocates a strong and strategic approach to creating a safe road
system, with speed management at its heart. Reducing motor vehicle speeds in
areas where the road user mix includes a high volume of vulnerable road users such
as pedestrians and cyclists is especially important.”

There are many tools available for effective speed management. They include
appropriate speed limits, engineering treatments, effective enforcement of speed
limits by police and the use of extensive public information and education
programmes to encourage compliance with both advisory speed signs and statutory
speed limits. In most cases a mix of tools is required to create solutions that are
appropriate to the needs and capacities of the individual country. This module
describes those tools available to influence speed.

Six approaches are covered in the Manual: Most are relevant to a road safety
auditor

Speed zoning and speed limits: Speed limits that take into account the function of
the road and its environment are a fundamental tool for speed management.

Urban and rural settings, which have a different mix of traffic, require different
approaches to achieve effective speed management. This section discusses ways to
define a hierarchy of roads in accordance with their main function, and how to set
appropriate speed limits for them.

Changing behaviour – regulating and enforcing speed: This section addresses

the legislative and regulatory settings that provide the basis for speed compliance,
and the various methods and techniques available for on-road enforcement. These
include the use of fixed and mobile speed cameras, the tolerance in enforcement of
speed limits by police and the importance of penalties such as fines, demerit points,
licence suspensions and vehicle confiscations.

Changing behaviour – public education: The role of public education to improve

compliance and support ongoing police enforcement activity is an important
component in changing road user behaviour The effectiveness of community-based

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programmes should be examined as part of the community involvement on new

schemes..

Photo 24 A selection of posters and hoardings that can be used to improve user
behaviour especially with police enforcement

Photo 25& 26 A local traffic park may be available as focus for awareness training

Engineering treatments: A range of measures is available to reduce speed in high-

risk locations. For example, in locations of high pedestrian activity near schools,
markets, shopping centres and busy urban precincts, measures such as speed
humps, raised pavement sections and road narrowing are often highly cost-effective
treatments.

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Guardrails
Guardrails are very important for improving safety on embankments and high speed
bends. They can be a real life saver but they can also be a dangerous hazard

Photo 27: Extensive guardrail

provided to protect a viaduct on a
high speed road, that has not been
tied into the adjacent structure
presents an exposed hazard for
vehicles running along the parapet
of the bridge.

Photo 28: The consequences of

collision with such an exposed end
can be severe.

Photo 29: Providing strong

connections between flexible
guardrails & rigid bridge parapets
not only removes the hazard but
also improves the resistance of the
barrier itself.

Without the connection shown above, a flexible guardrail will deflect when hit by a
vehicle and guide the vehicle straight into the rigid bridge parapet.

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Operation & Maintenance

An auditor has to make realistic recommendations depending on the way the road is
going to be operated and maintained. At times however there is also a need to
recommend improved levels of maintenance and servicing of the road to ensure that
facilities, such as pedestrian shoulders do not become unusable in very short time.

Photo 30. Damaged guardrails or other roadside furniture always reduce safety

Photo 31. Sections removed from median fencing discourage use of pedestrian
bridges. The reality of such practices need to be considered by the auditor during
the design stages.

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Photo 32: Road markings need to renewed regularly to retain there effectiveness.
Appropriate materials need to be provided where there is extensive 0verrunning and
turning that will accelerate their wear.

Construction Stages
During construction it is often necessary to maintain traffic flow of general traffic
either through or next to the construction site. There needs to be a clearly defined
and segregated route available for general traffic at all times. Chapter 8 of the Traffic
Signs Manual identifies the range of temporary signs that are available and possible
layouts for use. These need to be examined in all weather and lighting conditions

Photo 33: Inadequate signing of a segregated diversion route in daylight – At night

the location of the change of route would not be able to be seen until too late by
approaching drives. More advance signing and guidance to the diversion route is
needed that is clearly visible at night.

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Photo 34: Clear segregation of all road users needs to be maintained between the
construction activities and general road users. The ability of the diversion route to
accommodate vehicle and NMT needs to be established. Construction traffic should be
segregated within the site and a clear cordon or boundary established.

Typical Audit Summary

Ref: Problems Recommendations Designers Response
Comment
A1 Very many pedestrians will be walking along Segregate the Yes Designer to
the road on the section from ch. 0+000 to pedestrians from the produce a detailed
1+050 yet there is no provision for them vehicles and control design for a
other than a wide shoulder. There will be a access footway with
high degree of conflict between pedestrian limited openings
movement and vehicles parking / unparking for vehicular
and crossing the shoulder to access the access to roadside
roadside commercial development. development
A2 There is no provision for street lighting on the Provide street lighting No Insufficient funds
section through town centre (ch. 0+000 to for street lighting -
1+050) yet this area is busy at night and road will be
darkness will increase the risk of collisions, illuminated by
especially between pedestrians and vehicles lights of roadside
commercial
buildings
A3 At ch. 1+020 the existing pipe culvert Provide a pedestrian Yes
carrying the stream is to be replaced by a 3m parapet on both sides
wide box culvert. The specific design is not of the culvert
indicated but, if it is constructed to the typical
design shown on Dwg.DT-029c, it will have
no parapet. Without a parapet there is a risk
that pedestrians (including children from the
nearby school) may fall into the
stream.

A4 From ch. 1+800 to 2+050 there is an open Cover the drain Yes
side drain (1.4m wide and 1m deep) along
both sides of the road -this will be a
dangerous trap at night for the many
pedestrians and cyclists that will use this
road -and could also be a hazard for
stopping vehicles.

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A5 The bend at ch. 2+600 has a radius (70m) Re-align this section No Realigning the
that is well below standard, and the view of to remove the crest road would not be
the bend for traffic coming from town centre and bend, or, if this cost-effective but
will be obscured by the crest at ch. 2+550. cannot be done, warning signs and
Drivers will not see the bend in time to slow provide a high delineators will be
down sufficiently to be able to negotiate the standard of signing installed
bend safely. There are no signs or and delineation
delineators shown

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