GETTING STARTED

• Guidance documents on the assessment of risk should be adopted by road agencies, and training provided for key staff and external stakeholders on treatment of high crash locations, impact assessments, road safety audits, safety inspections, and road assessment programmes.
• Policies and processes should be put in place by road agencies to embed these approaches as part of core business.
• Investigation of high-risk routes and areas should be undertaken to identify locations with a high incidence of fatal and serious crash outcomes. Demonstration projects should be instigated at these locations as a way of improving safety, but also to assist in building capacity and engaging with key stakeholders.
• Where available, crash data should be used to help assess high risk locations. Where crash data is not available, collection should commence, at least on high-volume, high-risk routes.
• Presentation of crashes on maps is an easy way to identify high crash locations and can be a useful starting point to address crash risk.
• Data on safety-related road elements (e.g. through safety audit and road assessment programmes) should be collected to identify high risk locations. Other survey data (such as speed surveys) can also help identify high risk locations. This is particularly useful in the absence of accurate crash data.

MAKING PROGRESS

• Review and internationally benchmark existing guidance documents and approaches on risk assessment and update to ensure these are in accordance with international good practice.
• Refine adopted road safety tools to ensure that they meet local needs and reflect good practice. Ensure core road agency staff and stakeholders (internal and external) are adequately trained in these tools and approaches and applying these in their role. This includes staff responsible for national, regional and local roads.
• Ensure that risk on all roads is investigated to determine locations with a high incidence of fatal and serious casualties. This should include through the analysis of crash data and safety-related road elements. This data should be integrated with other safety-related information (including behavioural survey results) to help identify risk locations, as well as effectively manage road safety outcomes through a performance management framework.

CONSOLIDATING ACTIVITY

• Continue to review and internationally benchmark existing guidance documents and approaches on risk assessment and update to ensure these are in accordance with international good practice.
• Continue to refine tools and adapt them to meet local needs. Ensure that these tools are used by all relevant stakeholders.
• Ensure all relevant staff and stakeholders (internal and external) are adequately trained in these approaches and applying these in their role. Develop systems to ensure staff and stakeholders maintain high levels of skill.
• Continue to investigate risk on all roads to determine locations with a high incidence of fatal and serious casualties. This assessment should utilise all relevant sources of information, including a combination of crash data, safety-related road elements and other safety-related information.