| The Road Safety Audit Program (RSAP) is a useful device for identifying potential safety improvements in streets, roads, and other vehicular thoroughfares. However, other road safety programs exist which appear to accomplish this same goal of improving road safety. Accordingly, the RSAP may be rejected by a transportation entity based on the belief that it adds nothing to the entity's existing road safety program.; Furthermore, if a Road Safety Audit is undertaken, and potential safety improvements are identified, if those improvements are not fully implemented, persons who are injured in the area of the potential safety improvement may attempt to use the Road Safety Audit to show that the entity responsible for the roadway—being aware of the dangers—failed to perform its duty and correct the roadway to eliminate those dangers. In other words, the existence of the RSAP potentially poses an increased liability risk for the entity that authorized it.; If the RSAP is perceived to add nothing to a transportation entity's existing road safety program or if the danger of increased risk of liability is significant, then the result will be that the RSAP will be discouraged or simply not undertaken.; This study explores the two questions presented above: (1) whether the RSAP adds value to a transportation entity, and (2) whether the transportation entity's use of the RSAP is legally defensible. To address the first question, the Road Safety Audit Program is distinguished from existing road safety programs. To address the second question, the public policies at tension in the issue and the relevant law of six states from around the United States are examined. Particular attention is paid to the local rural transportation entity.; This study answers both questions in the affirmative. The study shows that the Road Safety Audit Program adds value to a transportation entity, that legal doctrines such as sovereign immunity and the rules of discovery and evidence can operate to protect the transportation entity from liability, and that the public interest of improving road safety outweighs the plaintiff's interests in a potential lawsuit. |
