Safe system implementation in three African and three European countries: Preliminary results from a comparison of six countries

The study provides preliminary results from a case comparison of road safety management in three African countries (Tanzania, Ghana, Zambia) with three EU countries, all with a great track record of excellence in traffic safety and practicing Safe Systems principles (Norway and Netherlands & Sweden), based on document analysis and qualitative interviews. Norway, Sweden, and The Netherlands are early adopters of what has been termed the Safe System Approach (termed “Sustainable safety” in the Netherlands). Norway and Sweden have the highest road safety level in world. The objectives of the study are to: 1) Examine the alignment with Safe System principles in the road safety management systems in each country, and 2) Discuss possible policy implications. The study is based on document analyses and focus group interviews with road safety experts (n=73) in the six countries. The European countries’ road safety management systems are mainly in line with the Safe Systems principles for road safety management. In the three African countries, we find an insufficient systematic approach and a lower level of implementation of existing plans, mostly related to insufficient data on accidents, low institutional road safety influence and lacking funding. We discuss possible policy implications for the three African countries.