A trail to a safer country

In all countries of the world people are trying to improve road safety. In road safety literature, however, there are many indications that road safety improvements are moving slowly. Several causes are given for this: firstly, the political priority is relatively low; secondly, it is not well-known how, exactly, road safety should and could be improved. And sometimes there is quite some debate about policy instruments and possible countermeasures. This study focusses on the question whether and how countries can learn from each other how to improve road safety. The question relates to road safety policy in general, as well as the choice of (counter)measures to be taken. This is a study of the PIARC Committee on Road Safety (C13), Working Group 1: Safety Policy. This paper was presented and discussed during the XXIst World Road Congress, October 1999 in Kuala Lumpur.