Road safety professionals representing two multilateral institutions and nine countries recently participated in a three-day road and safety audit class held at the headquarters of the International Road Federation (IRF) in Alexandria, Virginia.
The class marked the first event since the IRF called for increasing efforts to mainstream road safety into transportation projects and coincided with the recently-launched global credentialing program for road safety audit team leaders.
Event participants were taught on various aspects of identifying road deficiencies that lead to severe and fatal injuries, identifying network safety and risk management tools, and understanding the roles and skills of each road safety audit team member.
“Road safety audit and inspections can have significant economic benefits: it is not unusual for seventy-five percent of the recommendations made in a typical road safety audit to have a Benefit Cost Ratio greater than ten,” IRF lead instructor Michael Dreznes said. “By contrast, a poorly performed road safety audit can have negative effects on safety. This is why bringing safety professionals up to speed on key auditing techniques is so essential.”