Road safety auditors check to see that new roads will be safe for users. They look at the plans on paper and on-site to see if there are any potential hazards. Both council schemes and those carried out by developers are audited.
For small schemes, auditors usually carry out two checks. One is of the finished designs and then another is of the completed scheme. Larger schemes get more checks.
The auditor writes a report and gives it to those responsible for the scheme. They must then explain what they will do about each point raised.
Audits are carried out by 'accident investigation and prevention' engineers, following procedures laid down by the government.