It appears likely that traffic safety targets for 2000 and 2010 are not going to be met without additional policymaking efforts. Various aspects are relevant, which concern organisation, financing and meaning. This calls for a new look at traffic safety. Traffic safety is conceptually a very important issue, and there are many ideas about how to reach the goals, but when it comes to actions, the implementation remains poorly equipped with funds and backing. Partly this is due to the very complex and sometimes less transparent Dutch negotiating society. Also, various parts of the administration do not communicate sufficiently. Three specific topics may get more attention: safety belt use, drinking and driving, and speeding. Other topics are `sustainably safe' roads and Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS). Safety has to come both from top-down and bottom-up approaches. There is still much room for optimisations. (A)
Abstract