This report provides an overview of five Nordic countries’ (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden) performance in various areas of road safety. It builds upon the indicators developed within the PIN Programme, but introduces also some new indicators. Two types of benchmark are used: one is the average performance of Nordic countries, and the other is the average EU-27 countries’ performance. The aim of the report is to identify strengths and weaknesses in road safety performance in particular Nordic countries and suggest target areas of policy interventions in the near future. In terms of road safety, the Nordic countries are among the safest countries not only in Europe, but also in the world. But the gap between Nordic countries and the rest of Europe is shrinking, as the improvements have slowed down in the last decade. But it can be partly due to the fact that it is difficult to maintain the same pace of reduction in countries with good safety records, which have already exploited most of the potential of highly effective road safety measures. For all countries, speeding and driving while under the influence of alcohol remain key areas of policy intervention. Powered two-wheeler safety emerges as another area for attention. The safety of elderly road users will also need to be further addressed in the future. Sweden is the best performing Nordic country, but its rate of improvement is the lowest among the large Nordic countries. On the other hand, Denmark has been improving its national road safety record fastest. Thus the gap between the safest Nordic country and the least safe has been shrinking. The overview benchmarks the performance of all Nordic country in the particular areas of road safety considered in this report and provides aggregate performance ratings. This is intended to help in identifying areas for future policy intervention. Recommendations summarise these findings in the form of advice on the areas which could well be the subject of future policies. (Author/publisher)
Abstract