Part C: Road Safety Audit Tools
8.0 Road Safety Audit Prompt Lists
8.1 Purpose of Prompt Lists
Using RSA prompt lists.
The purposes of RSA prompt lists are to help the RSA team identify potential safety issues and to ensure that they do not overlook something important. The prompt lists may also be used by designers to help them identify potential safety issues proactively as they develop their design.
RSA prompt lists, even the most detailed ones, should be viewed as a prompt only. They are not a substitute for knowledge and experience; rather, they are an aid in the application of knowledge and experience. The RSA high-level prompt lists appended to this guideline are not all-inclusive, nor will they cover all potential issues and circumstances.
8.2 Organization of Prompt Lists
High-level prompt lists and an example of a detailed prompt list are included in this section. They provide a high-level outline of the topics typically considered to be within the scope of RSAs conducted at each stage and highlight areas that should be examined for safety issues. More detailed prompt lists are provided on the FHWA website at http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/rsa.
The RSA prompt lists provided are organized as follows:
Prompt lists for each RSA stage.
Pre-construction Phase
- Prompt List 1 - Planning Stage.
- Prompt List 2 - Preliminary Design Stage.
- Prompt List 3 - Detailed Design Stage.
Construction Phase
Post-construction Phase
Development Projects
More detailed prompt lists are available at http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/rsa.
8.3 When to Use the Prompt Lists
The prompt lists are for use during RSAs when:
- Reviewing project data, in particular, when project drawings are being examined.
- Conducting site visits.
- Conducting the RSA analysis.
- Writing the RSA report.
During project data and plan review, prompt lists may assist the RSA team in identifying missing information relevant to the scope of the RSA .
During pre-construction phase RSA site visits, a review of prompt lists may assist the RSA team in visualizing and assessing how the proposed design will integrate with existing road and environmental features. During construction phase and post-construction phase RSA site visits, the prompt lists provide a means of ensuring no safety-related elements are overlooked.
When filled out during project data and plan review, and during the field visits, the information contained in the comment fields of the prompt lists may subsequently be used to facilitate writing the audit report more rapidly and accurately.
Prompt lists should not be appended to the RSA report. The written RSA report should contain a sufficient explanation of the identified safety issues, the extent of safety concern, and the resulting suggestions, without any need to refer to notes or prompt lists.
8.4 How to Use the Prompt lists
Using prompt lists to facilitate RSAs.
Prompt lists, if used, should be applied in a way that best meets each RSA team member's needs. The prompt lists are structured to support the RSA team regardless of how they choose to undertake their work (independently then collectively, by progressing through the project in the same manner as a road user, or by examining each feature as it manifests itself in the project). Just as there is no single way to identify safety issues, there is no single way to use prompt lists.
Even the most detailed prompt lists cover only the more common elements of design and practice. Prompt lists are not exhaustive. RSA team members should use their own skills and judgment about the safety of any feature. If a listed topic is not apparently relevant to the project being audited, a broad view of the topic should be taken to see if it prompts a relevant question. For example, sight lines may be obstructed by features not listed in the prompt lists, but only at particular times of day or during a particular season of the year. Where a land use development proposal forms part of the design, may impact the design, or may impact the adjacent road network, the prompt list for the land use development should be used to complement the prompt lists for the related RSA stage. An understanding of the general environment around the project will help auditors make the best use of prompt lists.
A General Procedure for Using Prompt Lists
Approach to using prompt lists.
The following outlines a general procedure of using prompt lists:
- Before starting, the RSA team should decide collectively if they want to use prompt lists, and if so, which prompt lists to use, and how to use them. The prompt lists appended to this guideline are general prompts only. The RSA team may wish to photocopy the prompt lists provided. More detailed, printable prompt lists are downloadable from the FHWA RSA website. Alternatively, electronic prompt lists may be downloaded from the website, and installed on RSA team computers.
- Some RSA team members may find it useful to tailor the electronic prompt lists to a specific scheme to be audited (delete non-relevant items or adding specific questions to be prompted);
- The prompt lists are generally designed to help the RSA team members to think about broader issues first ("general topics") and to get into specific details after the more general issues are considered. Note that even though some checklist items may seem similar, they appear in different sections and are supposed to be interpreted differently; i.e., in relation to the topic of the section (e.g., "General Topics" as opposed to "Intersections," etc.).
- In the RSA process, the RSA team may note on the prompt lists any issues that represent a safety concern or require further review and provide their comments. Additional details can be logged on the plans and drawings. It is helpful to take photographs illustrating the identified safety concerns and reference them in the prompt lists. These graphics may be used during RSA analyses and may subsequently be appended to the RSA report.