Road Safety Audit is a systematic process for checking the road safety implications of highway improvements and new road schemes. The sole objective of the process is to minimise future road accident occurrence and severity once the scheme has been built and the road comes into use.

The auditor needs to take into account all road users, particularly vulnerable users such as pedestrians and pedal cyclists.

With these safety objectives in mind, the auditors need to ask the question "who can be hurt here and in what way?"

Having identified potential road safety problems, the auditor then makes recommendations for improvement. The client proceeds by studying the report, and deciding which recommendations to accept, and therefore to adopt within the scheme design and construction.

The importance of Road Safety Audit  

Road Safety Auditing is a specialist process that must be carried out independently of design and construction work.  Road Safety Audits are intended to ensure that operational road safety experience is applied during the design and construction process in order that the number and severity of collisions are kept to a minimum.

Road Safety Audits fulfil a vital role in checking that roads have been designed and built to the highest safety standards. A well carried out Road Safety Audit adds value to a highway scheme at every level. 

The different stages of Road Safety Audit

Where road safety audit is applied to a highway scheme, it shall be undertaken at each of the following stages:

Stage 1  Completion of preliminary design

Stage 2  Completion of detailed design (or combined Stage 1 and 2)

Stage 3  Completion of construction

Stage 4  Post opening monitoring