The roads administration

We will here use the Swedish National Road Administration (SNRA) as an example. This authority has overall responsibihty for traffic safety in Sweden and has direct responsibility for government roads. In 1997, the Swedish parliament decided that the so-called zero-mindset or vision zero philosophy regarding traffic fatalities and severe injuries should guide long-term traffic-safety work (Swedish National Road Administration, 1999). SNRA has the main responsibility for the traffic safety results, although it does not have all the necessary traffic-safety measures at its command. 

The vision zero philosophy has been translated into an operational goal. This is to accomplish continuous reductions in the frequency of severe traffic accidents. More specifically, the goal is to reduce the number of traffic fataHties by 50 per cent in a ten-year period, starting from 1996. 

SNRA has a Traffic-Accident Data System at its disposal. It is used to store all police-reported traffic crashes on the government and municipal road and street network. The following types of information are stored about each accident  

A sketch of the accident site, including road and vehicle positions. Narrative description of the sequence of events. 

Weather, road surface, traffic environment and lighting conditions. 

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In Chapter 28, we will move to the field of traffic safety. We will illustrate the application of different principles and methods of experience feedback in this new setting. This is done from three perspectives, that of the trucking company, the truck manufacturer and the roads administration. 

Niskanen, T., 1994. Safety climate in the road administration. Safety Science, 17 237-255. 

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