Internationally Recognized Road Safety Practice Comes to Ontario

Topic: News, Press Release
Published: September 2023

Municipal road association is creating safer roads through world class training.

September 25, 2023, Oakville, ON – Good Roads, Ontario’s oldest municipal association is partnering with Safe System Solutions from Melbourne, Australia to bring an internationally recognized road safety practice to Ontario.

The Good Roads Road Safety Audit (RSA) course trains transportation professionals to recognize risks associated with existing road networks as well as risks contained in proposed developments.

“We are re-imaging the way we look at our roads and road safety in Ontario. Reducing risk exposure for road users, the likelihood of crash occurrence can be reduced, and the severity of crashes can be reduced by a few simple measures.” said Scott Butler, Executive Director, Good Roads.

A road safety audit is not simply a compliance check against design standards or other technical guidance. An RSA recognizes that strict adherence to design standards does not guarantee safety since standards are not always written with safety as a primary objective. A road safety audit is an examination of a proposed road design to identify road safety deficiencies so that they can be eliminated or mitigated before they are built. In this way, a road safety audit is a proactive process which attempts to prevent crashes from occurring, as opposed to a crash investigation and some other road safety engineering activities which are a reactive process and attempt to correct existing problems so that further crashes are less likely.

“We’ve witnessed this RSA work in countries around the world to save lives. In 2020, Ontario had 530 people killed in collisions on our roads and a further 31,792 people were injured. RSAs can significantly reduce these numbers.” continued Mr. Butler. “Safe System Solutions is a world leader in applied road safety. We have run technical training to over 4,000 engineers, highway designers and technical officers. Because we’re practitioners, having done over 3,000 road safety audits across the world, our training courses are practical and create an immediate benefit to the community.” said Kenn Beer, Principal Engineer, Safe System Solutions.

The Road Safety Audit Course is being offered only for a limited time in October in two locations in Ontario.

Good Roads is a municipal association concerned with the advancement of roads and other infrastructure in Ontario. Based in Oakville, Ontario, we have been devoted to the cause of better roads since 1894. Originally known as the Ontario Good Roads Association (and still using that name corporately), we have more than 450 member governments, including most of Ontario’s municipalities and a growing number of First Nations, as well as dozens of affiliated corporate members in the transportation and infrastructure sectors. Our purpose, in part, is to connect our members to each other, to other levels of government, and to relevant companies in the private sector. Our members look to us for training, knowledge, political advocacy, and answers to their most pressing problems. Good Roads is resolutely independent.

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For more information, please contact:
Rachel Swiednicki
Manager, Communications and Marketing
Good Roads
1525 Cornwall Road, Unit 22
Oakville, ON L6J 0B2
C. 905-630-0542
rachel@qoodroads.ca
www.GoodRoads.ca