Clinical diagnosis: safer roads through road safety audits
Moving toward zero deaths on Minnesota roadways may seem like a difficult goal—but simple steps can help move Minnesota in that direction, said speakers at a session on road safety audits.
A road safety audit (RSA) is a formal safety performance examination of an existing or future road or intersection by an independent audit team. Minnesota’s Comprehensive Highway Safety Plan has identified the use of RSAs as one strategy to help reduce the number of fatal and life-altering crashes on Minnesota roadways.
Some common problems are predictable and can be fixed inexpensively, according to Dan Brannan, traffic safety specialist with Mn/DOT. Posting signs where crashes consistently happen and putting more police officers on the road in areas where drivers frequently speed will help to increase safety, he said.
Olmsted County is working toward zero deaths by using statistics to fix some of their local problems. County engineer Mike Sheehan said that some of the most prevalent problems in Olmsted County are crashes caused by failure to yield to right-of-way. The percentage of crashes caused by failure to yield is 14 percent for the county, compared to 6 percent statewide, Sheehan said.
To alleviate this problem, signing on right-turn lanes and relocating stop bars are potential solutions that could lower the number of crashes.
Other problems that seem to be more prevalent in Olmsted County include speeding and inattentive driving. The county averages 15 percent of its crashes from speeding, compared to 7 percent statewide, he said. Lieutenant Mark Peterson explained some of the ways in which the State Patrol is using road safety audits to solve roadway problems.
More than 4,000 drivers are speeding over 75 miles per hour each day. To control this, Peterson said the State Patrol has put more officers on the road at times when the most drivers are speeding. Short-term studies are showing that increasing the number of officers on the road is reducing speeding and therefore reducing crashes, Peterson said.
It works because people become more cautious and more aware of their pocketbook; drivers tend to think, “If I speed, I run the risk of getting caught, and that’s going to cost me money,” he said.