A Case Study on Pre-Opening Stage Road Safety Audit

Transportation has been instrumental in the growth of cultures since the dawn of time, allowing individuals to migrate and goods to be transported. A poorly aligned road not only creates a possible traffic threat but also increases commuting costs and puts a burden on drivers and travellers. As a result, careful decisions are critical in highway construction, both in terms of current needs and the potential growth of the region. A Road Safety Audit is a critical technique for paying detailed attention to road safety during the planning, construction, and maintenance phases of a road. The two key techniques in road safety work are accident reduction and accident prevention. This study focuses on both aspects. The road chosen in this study is another District Road in Bareilly District, Uttar Pradesh. It originates from Fatehganj Paschmi near NH-530 and merges with SH-37 at Baheri. Road Safety Audit is conducted on the road section before opening it to the traffic. This is a two-lane road without a paved shoulder in which Bareilly-Shahi Road also merges from the side at Chainage km 3+400. It has a Major Junction at Chainage km 10+000 which is densely populated Shahi Village. This study is about the road safety measures adopted on the newly built Bhitoura-Shahi-Shergarh-Baheri road and identifies any flaws that could result in an accident or pose a safety risk to road users. It is constructed to liberate people from traffic congestion. During the day, there is a lot of traffic on the road. On the basis of primary and secondary data collection, a systematic analysis of the road section is carried out. The methodology used entails gathering primary data performing a physical survey (inventory) and analyzing the observations, and secondary data from the appropriate authorities. Various recommendations to improve the deficiencies in order to ensure safe and efficient mobility are suggested as per IRC. The plants and tree along the road sides although control pollution of vehicles yet sometimes their branches have to be cut to reduce accidents.


INTRODUCTION
The present study has been carried out on Bhitoura-Shahi-Shergarh-Baheri Road in the district Bareilly Uttar Pradesh, India. This road was selected for the present study as it is the major link between NH-530 and SH-37. It is an Other District Road of 41.80 km in the district Bareilly which originates from Fatehganj Paschmi, near Bareilly-Rampur Highway and merges with Bareilly-Nainital Highway at Baheri [1][2][3]. This is a two-lane road without paved shoulder in which Bareilly-Shahi Road also merges from side at Chainage km 3+400. It has a Major Junction at Chainage km 10+000 which is densely populated Shahi Village. The road was found with frequent changes in land COSMEC 2021 IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 889 (2021) 012029 IOP Publishing doi: 10.1088/1755-1315/889/1/012029 2 use patterns, differences in driving habits, traffic patterns, etc. An RSA is carried out after its construction in order to recommend proper safety provisions as per IRC guidelines. This ODR is of high importance being sandwiched between a major NH and SH and caters high mixed traffic volume [4][5][6]. The entire project under Road Safet Audit is helpful to reduce the accident in the study area and in term of cost also. The present study is used to find out black spot as well as the basic causes of road accidents. The identified causes can be removed for selected stretch /area to rectify as well as someone future traffic movement. This pre opening stages is considered to be site inspection as well as improvement measurement against road safety. The audit steps of present study can be utilize on the other stretch by road safety auditor, where more accidents are happening yearly. The vegetations can play an important role on highways safety, but excess cutting/filling of plants can be a cause increase in environmental pollution. As the road side trees and plants on median are very much useful to control pollution of moving vehicles, but sometimes the branches obstruct various types of sign board and markings. These obstruction leads to lack of information to the drive and cause accidents. So present study can be use for reduction in environmental pollution and increase in road safety of selected streach. A good suggested travel pattern of traffic may lead to provide proper level of service for vehicles using the road [4][5][6][7][8][9].

Purpose of a pre-opening RSA
Identify and resolve any safety concerns prior to the post-construction stage [10][11][12].Consider the road safety features that are not shown on the comprehensive design drawings. Check to see that the road users' demands have been addressed properly and safely. Inspect the recently built road for any temporary traffic signs, temporary road markings, construction equipment's , barriers, fences, debris, etc. Examine first hand how the different design and construction components interact with one another and with the local road network. Identify any items that were overlooked during a previous audit.Follow-up on any issues that were discovered during a previous audit, see figure 1 and table 1.   [13][14][15][16]. Survey data is obtained for Classified Traffic Volume and Spot Speed. Road inventories are carried out to gather information about the conditions on road, road geometry, road markings, traffic signs, road side furniture, etc.discusses the design defects and other safety features on a 10 km MDR having terrain and mixed traffic cause the accidents.The road stretch of 10 km from Vikarabad to Kerelli towns is chosen for RSA. Road markings such as centre line markings, edge markings, etc. are missing throughout the road. The paper followed the practical guidelines of PIARC for Road Safety Auditors and Inspectors and proposed some easy-to-do and even low-cost recommendations [17][18][19][20][21]. Another RSA of an existing interchange on NH-2 at Modi Mill flyover conducted, The researcher argues in the conclusion that even if the road user fails to obey the rules, the road designers must take necessary steps to prevent people from being killed or seriously injured. presents an RSA of NH-52 from Manur to Khalghat. To reduce the accidents, the primary step is the conduction of an RSA to study the basic causes leading to the accidents . Furthermore, these causes must be rectified following the recommendations made according to IRCguidelines. Sawan presents an RSA of NH-16 from Hanuman Junction CH. 1058.00 km to Vijayawada Vaaradhi CH. 1100.50 km with 354 mitigation points for questionnaire survey. Accident data is collected to identify the potential hazardous locations from the questionnaires. aims to perform an RSA with Spot Speed studies and traffic volume count. From simulation data, it is observed that road markings, poor maintenance of shoulder and carriage way, unauthorised median openings, traffic signals, shoulder, carriageway, unauthorised median openings etc are the major causes of accidents. explores the design defects and other road safety features on NH-2 Delhi-Mathura Road is a part of CRRI RSA training program of 15 days. data is collected by a public questionnaire survey and Spot Speed studies and Traffic Volume studied. ] Audits in the mid-block sections with different safety-related steps, such as roadside hazards, inadequate road markings, etc. can be better conducted in one segment in an RSA. ] aims to assess the RSA of a 4-lane NH-58 road stretch and focus is to evaluate the implications of the recommendations proposed against the deficiencies.

NEED OF STUDY
Though several research findings are available for some developed countries of the world but their applicability to Indian conditions is limited. It is also observed that very few researchers have carried out RSA in night and adverse weather conditions. It is found that there is inconsistency and improper coordination among various stakeholders responsible for road safety. The roads chosen by majority of the researchers are either NH or SH. Almost no one has focused on ODRs.

Site visit and data collection
The audit team visited the road stretch several times and performed the safety audit for all the parameters mentioned in check lists in different conditions. Photographs are taken of potential safety hazards and verified using softwares such as GeoSetter and Google Earth Pro. It helps in getting the accurate alignment plan of the road. Complete videography of the entire road stretch is also done which is analysed later to assess the condition of vegetation control, roadside amenities, etc. Total Station Survey along the road stretch is carried out extensively covering the important geometrical safety parameters, see figure 2.

LIMITATION
The road safety audit is very much important in term of increase in safety of road user, but it's a complicated process to conduct. A person/auditor must be having certified course completion certificate for identify safety issues. Sometimes the clearance of issues from various other departments can delay or revised the final finding of audit. The work/steps required improving the traffic condition and junction condition can divert the route, which can increase the travel time and cost of travellers. The audit finding may leads to increase overall budget of selected stretch in terms of changing some designs. The spacing available on actual site condition may be a hazard to change/improve the junction having more accidents.

SCOPE OF FURTHER STUDY
The road safety audit is an important part of good travel pattern of vehicles using that stretch. This RSA can be conducted on every junction which have more monthly/yearly accidents and spotted as black spots. The black spots can be identified and the steps used in present study to be implemented on them for improvement of the road behaviour. The RSA can be implementing on other complete road of N.H. and S.H. for reduction in accidents time by time. The modification and improvement provided by RSA can be used to reduce accidents on similar types of other roads with some changes. The steps involved in RSA for different stages can be used for different road stages in terms of newly constructed road to improvement on existing road. The stages of RSA can be implemented on during construction stage and after construction, before opening of traffic and after opening of traffic wherever the condition allows.