Guidelines for the Safety Audit of Highways.

The aim of the Guidelines is to provide a means of identifying potentially unsafe features in traffic management schemes. The application of such cost effective measures, as a basis for accident reduction, is now an essential part of safety policy, intended to reduce the national casualty toll by 10-15% over the next decade. A fundamental requirement for safety auditing is that practical safety experience is applied to a highway scheme in order to reduce the possibility of unsafe features being incorporated during the course of highway improvement or traffic planning work. Safety audit procedures are detailed in the following sections: (1) Prevention is better than cure; (2) Organising safety Organising safety audit; (3) When to audit; (4) The resources required; (5) Safety principles; (6) Existing roads; (7) Monitoring; (8) Checklists; and (9) Sources of information. Details of relevant Department of Transport Standards and Advice notes are appended.