Abstract
In 1988 the BASt (German Federal Highway Research Institute) established a database in collaboration with the Commission of the European Communities. At the moment, there are 18 contributing national centres from the OECD and Central and Eastern European countries who jointly finance and manage the facility. An outline is given of the database structure including the groups of data and other topics of interest in the field of road safety are indicated. A brief description of the Working Programme, designed to consolidate data compilation and familiarisation, is given. Technical aspects of the database are discussed and future developments outlined.