Road safety audit: an exploratory study

A road safety audit is a formal examination of an existing or future road or traffic project, or any project that interacts with road users, in which independent, qualified examiners look at the projects crash potential and safety performance. The objectives of road safety audit are to identify potential safety risks for road users and to ensure that measures to eliminate or reduce the risks are fully considered. Road safety audit works in two ways to ensure that safety is improved, namely by removing preventable crash producing elements at the design stage and by mitigating the effects of any remaining risks by the inclusion of suitable crash-reducing elements. The present paper focuses on providing a preliminary or basic understanding of the Road safety Audit. Later the discussion is preceded further to the important elements and the various stages in the Road Safety Audit. Finally, the conclusion focuses briefly on the implementation of the Road Safety Audit, which can only be successful if the members of the Audit Team possess sufficient specialized professional knowledge and other virtues