Abstract:
The South African Road Safety Assessment Methods of 2022 (SARSAM 2022) replaced
the previous South African Road Safety Audit Manual of 2012 (SARSAM, 2012). The
SARSAM 2022 is part of the Technical Recommendations for Highways compiled under
auspices of the Committee of Transport Officials (COTO), TRH 29.
The Safe System Approach incorporates the principle that humans are frail and that the
human body cannot withstand the kinetic energy that is transferred if a collision occurs
without being killed or seriously injured. As such it is the responsibility of the road designer
(authority) to design a road and road environment that is inherently safe. SARSAM 2012
was updated to incorporate the Safe System principles.
The updated document now consists of three volumes which deals with Road Network
Screening, Road Safety Inspections and Road Safety Audits. The accreditation of auditors
by Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) has progressed and has now been
incorporated in the updated methods.
This paper highlights the substantial changes that occurred with the updated document
