Safe System maturity and Safe System readiness in three European and three African countries

Abstract

The study provides a comparison of Safe System maturity and Safe System readiness in three European countries (Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands) and three African countries (Ghana, Tanzania, Zambia), based on document studies and focus group discussions (n = 73 interviewees and n = 44 interviewees). Safe System maturity refers to the level of Safe System implementation related to national road safety management, while the readiness assessment focuses on the factors influencing maturity. The study develops a model to assess Safe System readiness. Interviewees in the focus groups discussions in the African countries discussed insufficient implementation from the position of an emerging Safe System context, where factors like insufficient economic resources, corruption and insufficient institutional robustness limit Safe System implementation. Interviewees in the European countries discussed insufficient implementation from a mature Safe System context. These countries have had considerable reductions in fatal accidents since they implemented Safe System policies, but there is still room for improvement. Interviewees in the European countries generally indicated that they know what is needed to reach the Safe System, but that societal factors are constraining this implementation (e.g. cultural focus on freedom to take risk, lacking political sense of urgency related to road safety). There are several very effective measures that are not being used in the European countries, because factors like explicit political choices, goal conflicts and values limit Safe System implementation. The study concludes that there are considerable implementation barriers in both the emerging and the mature Safe System context, although they differ in nature.