Just as there can be benefits to conducting RSAs, some DOTs may also experience challenges in using them. This section is intended to familiarize you with some of the general legal considerations & implications of the RSA process; this is not legal advice. No two states are completely alike in how they might view a DOT’s use of RSAs. Consult your DOT’s attorney for the legalities specific to your state’s use of RSAs.

• There are legal considerations and implications to consider pertaining to RSAs.
• States' Rights - for most legal issues, individual state courts are free to develop their own precedents, interpretations, and hostilities or sympathies to DOTs. 
• If the decision-maker is in line with a DOT policy that appears to be in the public's interest, some state courts are willing to extend discretionary protection to the decision-maker, regardless of the managerial level of the decision-maker. 
• Evidence of RSAs, such as the written report and response to the report, as part of a risk management program could be used to show that a state or locality is exercising good faith in managing its liabilities and risks.

For more information, please view the following PowerPoint presentation.

FHWA Office of Safety
Becky Crowe
FHWA RSA Program Manager
400 North 8th Street, Suite 750
Richmond, Virginia 23219
rebecca.crowe@fhwa.dot.gov