The purpose of the report is to describe and systematise the experience obtained by the road administrations in the nordic countries in respect of the drawing up of objectives of road safety work. The present objectives in denmark, norway, sweden and finland are described. The objectives may bear on safety or feeling of safety. They may be national or local. They may be quantitative or qualitative. They may be expressed in absolute values or in relative terms by comparison with other sectors of society. It can be noted that very few road administrations - except in finland - have formulated objectives for road safety. The report argues that all road administrations should draw up objectives for the road safety work as a means of fixing a better order of priority to resources. The objectives should be made separately for safety as well as feeling of safety, as these goals are not always identical. The objectives should be quantitative in order to measure the fulfilment of the objectives. Some of the objectives should be expressed in relative terms in order to adjust them more easily to the overall objective of society. The objectives should be divided into partial objectives for the individual sectors. Effect measurements should be made so that the objectives can be adjusted concurrently with the experience gained. The adoption of the objectives drawn up is a political task, but the initiative may come from politicians as well as administration.
Abstract