Modern Methods of Road Audits in order to Increase Traffic Safety
Roads and road infrastructure have been designed, built and equipped to suit their purpose and requirements of traffic safety. Elements of roads and road infrastructure can be put into operation only after it has been determined that they meet the requirements of traffic safety. Lately, more and more attention is paid to road as an element of traffic safety. The road may not be the main cause of traffic accidents, but it can “assist” in its development. According to statistics, 15-30% of accidents occur due to the poor state of roads and road infrastructure. Road Safety Audit is a systematic and independent examination of the parameters of road safety if they are in operation, or of projects if they are in the planning stage or under construction. In principle, this method assumes that the team of specially trained professionals (auditors) systematically examine either part of the existing road or a new road plan aimed at finding potential risks of traffic accidents. In many countries, including also Bosnia and Herzegovina, the security audits are not used. It is only in the last amendment to the Law of basics of traffic safety on the roads in Bosnia and Herzegovina that Road Safety Inspection (RSI) and Road Safety Audit (RSA) have been processed as concepts. For this reason, this paper presents the recent auditing methods of the existing and new roads that aim at raising the level of traffic safety to the highest level possible.