Star Rating for Road Safety Audits (SR4RSA) manual 

To help ensure road designers can achieve Global Road Safety Performance Targets and ensure that roads are safe for everyone, a new Star Ratings for Road Safety Audits (SR4RSA) manual will help policy makers and practitioners involved in designing, upgrading, and rehabilitating roads to meet safety targets and reduce injuries from traffic crashes.

The manual supports the implementation of the Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030 which recommends the use of Road Safety Audits (RSA) and the iRAP methodology. The Global Plan recommends that national and local governments “Undertake road safety audits on all sections of new roads (prefeasibility through to detailed design) and complete assessments using independent and accredited experts to ensure a minimum standard of three stars or better for all road users.”

The manual is part of a series of road safety engineering manuals of the CAREC Program that came from the endorsement of the CAREC Road Safety Strategy 2017-2030 by member countries. The strategy supports and encourages CAREC authorities to plan, design, construct, and maintain safe roads.

The manual presents three approaches for how the RSA and iRAP methodology can be applied together during the design phases of a road project. The simplest approach makes use of the Star Rating Demonstrator, which can be used to prepare Star Ratings alongside road safety audits very quickly. The most advanced approach enables the production of enhanced metrics including Star Ratings, fatality and serious injury estimations and investment plans along with the audit.

The manual was prepared under a technical assistance grant for Enhancing Road Safety for Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Member Countries (Phase 2) from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

The new SR4RSA manual is available for download at: https://www.adb.org/publications/carec-road-safety-engineering-manual-star-ratings.