Development of a simple road safety audit procedure suitable for road condition in Rwanda

Abstract

Over the years, road safety has become a principal concern of many transportation agencies. The rapid growth of the highway network, changing vehicle population, mixes of vehicles on the roads (smaller vehicles and motorcycles sharing the road with larger trucks), number and age of drivers, economic constraints in road construction, and technological advances, have contributed to an environment of increased accident potential. Furthermore, the three principal elements which contribute to highway accidents driver, vehicle and road are also affected by the social and political environment under which they interact. Statistics show that accidents in Rwanda increase from year to year. From 2002 to 2012 accidents have increased by 1,808 and over 4000 accidents occur each year in Rwanda. Rwanda already has many road safety issues, such as substandard cross sections, mixing of different road users and roadside obstacles. The roads designs should be audited in order to reduce accident risk and improve road safety on new road project. In the first place, this means that people are prevented from being killed or injured on the roads before highway authority react. In the second place, it is cheaper and easier to correct projects on the drawing board than it is after they have been implemented and promote awareness of safe design practices. To make successful the work some data were collected from different institutions ie Rwanda National Police, Rwanda Transport Development Agency. The accidents data were considered and analyzed critically in relation to road characteristics and vehicle characteristics also the traffic characteristics. The research is stipulated as a qualitative, observational research where by the development of a simple road safety audit procedures suitable for road condition in Rwanda was based on data collected in textual form in different government institution. The approaches used was to review current road safety audit manuals; identify the source of road network condition including road classification, road network size, pavement types, road condition; vehicle fleet characteristics; traffic characteristics; drivers; road safety and accidents data; to collect data; to analyze data; development of a road safety audit procedure for Rwanda and the guidelines on how to apply the procedure then the conclusion on findings vii The accidents in Rwanda are ascending; the registered vehicles increase, a high number of accidents occurs on the national paved road with a big number of daily traffic (ADT) and the geography of Rwanda affect the geometric designs. Therefore, in order to reduce a number of accidents a simple road safety audit procedures suitable for road condition in Rwanda were developed. The road safety audits have to be conducted at different stages in the course of a road project from initiation to pre-opening of the road project. The road safety audits in Rwanda shall be performed at the following stages: Preliminary Stage, Draft design Stage, Detailed design Stage, Construction Stage and Pre-opening Stage. We conclude by saying that in order achieve the objectives of safer roads for sustainable development, the roads shall be constructed by respecting the road safety audits procedure at each stage of the road project from feasibility study to pre-opening the road. Also, the road safety audit procedure in Rwanda shall lead to many benefits, such as safer new roads through accident prevention and crash severity reduction, safer road networks, reduced whole life costs of road schemes, a reduced need to modify new schemes after they are built, a better understanding and documentation of road safety engineering, eventual safety improvements to standards and procedures, more explicit consideration of the safety needs of vulnerable road users. Note that Safe design practices and the safety needs of all road users are important considerations in attracting donor funding.