Road safety is fundamental to transport planning, ensuring that infrastructure protects lives while enabling efficient movement of people and goods.
Road safety is a fundamental component of transport planning and infrastructure design. Across many African countries, rapid urbanization, increasing motorization, and mixed traffic environments have led to rising rates of road crashes, injuries, and fatalities. Vulnerable road users - including pedestrians, cyclists, and public transport passengers - often face the greatest risk due to inadequate infrastructure, poor traffic management, and limited enforcement. Effective road safety planning therefore requires a holistic approach that combines infrastructure design, policy, education, enforcement, and technology.
The Safe System approach, widely endorsed by global road safety bodies, recognises that humans are vulnerable and will make mistakes, and that the transport system must be designed to accommodate this reality. This means building roads and intersections that reduce the likelihood and severity of crashes, rather than placing the burden of safety solely on road users. It also means integrating road safety into every stage of project delivery - from planning and design through to construction and operation.
Data-driven safety analysis is essential for identifying high-risk locations, understanding crash patterns, and prioritising interventions. By combining crash data with traffic volume data, road geometry assessments, and land use analysis, engineers and planners can develop targeted safety improvements that deliver measurable results.
OAR supports governments, municipalities, and development agencies with road safety strategies, safety audits, design reviews, and institutional frameworks. We work across project stages - from early planning through detailed design and post-construction evaluation - to ensure that safety is embedded in every decision.
Road safety is not only a moral imperative - it is an economic necessity. The cost of road crashes in Africa is estimated at 3-5% of GDP in many countries, placing a significant burden on healthcare systems, productivity, and families. Investing in road safety delivers one of the highest returns of any infrastructure intervention.
Our road safety practice is built on three key areas that ensure comprehensive, context-sensitive, and effective outcomes.
Road safety at OAR is not a standalone exercise - it is integrated into every transport project from inception. We begin by understanding how people actually use transport networks, particularly in African cities where informal transport, walking, and cycling dominate.
This contextual understanding allows us to identify safety risks early and design infrastructure that responds to real-world conditions, not just theoretical standards.
We apply Safe System principles to all our work, designing roads that anticipate human error rather than punishing it. This includes speed management, intersection safety improvements, pedestrian protection measures, and separation of conflicting traffic movements.
Our designs aim to eliminate fatal and serious injury crashes by creating forgiving road environments that protect all users - especially the most vulnerable.
Every road safety assessment we undertake is grounded in evidence. We use crash data analysis, traffic surveys, site inspections, and stakeholder consultations to build a comprehensive picture of safety performance.
This evidence base informs our recommendations, ensuring that interventions are targeted, cost-effective, and measurable in their impact on reducing crashes and injuries.
Road safety studies take different forms depending on the stage of a project and its objectives. OAR undertakes a range of safety assessments tailored to the needs of each project.
A Road Safety Appraisal is conducted at the early planning or feasibility stage of a project. It provides a high-level review of proposed route options, cross-sections, and design concepts from a safety perspective. The aim is to identify potential safety concerns before significant design investment is made, allowing decision-makers to compare alternatives with safety as a key criterion.
A Road Safety Audit is a formal, independent, and systematic review of a road design or existing road to identify potential safety issues for all road users. RSAs are conducted by qualified auditors who are independent of the design team, and they follow a structured process defined by national or international guidelines. OAR conducts RSAs across all design stages.
Stage 1 audits review the preliminary or concept design of a road project. At this stage, the focus is on alignment, cross-section, access management, intersection spacing, and compatibility with surrounding land use. Identifying safety issues at this stage is the most cost-effective point to make changes, as design flexibility is still high.
Stage 2 audits examine the detailed design, including geometric layout, signage, road markings, lighting, drainage, pedestrian and cyclist facilities, and intersection design. The audit assesses whether the design adequately addresses the safety of all road users under all conditions, including night-time, wet weather, and peak traffic periods.
Stage 3 audits are conducted during or immediately after construction, before the road is opened to traffic. They verify that the design intent has been correctly implemented in the field and identify any construction-related safety hazards. This includes checking sight distances, sign placement, road surface quality, and temporary traffic management arrangements.
Stage 4 audits, also known as road safety inspections, are carried out on existing, operational roads. They assess safety performance based on observed conditions, crash history, and road user behaviour. These inspections are valuable for identifying systemic issues on road networks and prioritising remedial measures within maintenance and upgrade programmes.
Road safety in Africa presents some of the most pressing challenges in the global transport sector. The continent accounts for a disproportionate share of global road fatalities relative to its vehicle fleet and population. Rapid urbanisation, growing motorisation, and inadequate infrastructure combine to create high-risk environments, particularly for pedestrians and other vulnerable road users.
The UN Decade of Action for Road Safety (2021-2030) has set an ambitious target of reducing road deaths and injuries by 50%. Achieving this in Africa will require significant investment in safer road infrastructure, stronger institutional capacity, improved data systems, and a shift towards Safe System thinking at all levels of government.
In South Africa, the South African Road Safety Manual provides a comprehensive framework for conducting road safety audits, appraisals, and inspections. OAR's road safety team is well versed in these guidelines and applies them rigorously across all projects. We also draw on international frameworks such as the iRAP (International Road Assessment Programme) star rating system to benchmark road safety performance and identify cost-effective improvements.
The iRAP programme is particularly valuable in the African context, as it provides an objective, evidence-based method for assessing road safety risk across large networks. By combining iRAP assessments with local crash data and engineering judgment, OAR helps clients develop prioritised safety investment plans that deliver maximum impact within available budgets.
OAR is committed to integrating safety into every stage of transport infrastructure delivery. Whether we are conducting a road safety audit on a national highway, appraising a new urban corridor, or inspecting an existing intersection, our goal is the same: to create roads that are not only efficient but safer and more inclusive for all users.
Through partnerships with governments, development agencies, and the private sector, and by building better data and institutional capacity, we believe the future of road safety in Africa is one of optimism and progress. Every project is an opportunity to save lives, and OAR is proud to be part of that effort.
Let's discuss how our road safety expertise can help protect lives and deliver safer transport infrastructure across Africa.