In Austria, road safety is the joint responsibility of various policy-makers (local authorities, political stakeholders, research institutes and non-governmental organisations). The following chart provides an overview of the interplay of the individual participants. At the centre of road safety work is the Road Safety Programme (RSP), which was initially enacted in 2002 for the period from 2002-2010. In February 2011, the new RSP 2011-2020 was published. Due to the accident investigation law that took effect in the year 2006, the Austrian Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology (bmvit) set up the Road Safety Advisory Council as a forum for the decision-makers to examine road safety issues. The focus of the Road Safety Advisory Council lies in the generation, ongoing evaluation and further development of road safety programmes for all modes of transport. The RS Advisory Council consists of transport spokespersons from the various political parties represented in parliament, safety experts from all modes of transport and representatives of ministries and local authorities, automobile associations, chambers of commerce and industry, associations, interest groups and scientific institutions. The Road Task Force of the Road Safety Advisory Council participated in the creation of the new Road Safety Programme 2011-2020 and will monitor it during the entire period of validity and evaluate intermittently. The first Austrian Road Safety Programme (RSP) was published in 2002 for a validity period from 2002-2010. In 2010, significant achievements were recorded: The number of fatalities decreased during the validity period of the first RSP by 45.1%, while the number of injury accidents declined by 14.3%. The reduction goals of the RSP 2002-2010 were largely achieved. Despite the achievements of the RSP, Austria's performance regarding road safety is only average in the EU27. The new RSP 2011-2020, which was published in February 2011, is going to help achieve considerably more on a European level. In a multi-level process, the implementation status and awareness level of the previous RSP was determined. In addition to that, a problem analysis was conducted. In order to do this, the official accident data compiled by Statistics Austria was evaluated, international sources were consulted and behaviour analyses such as speed measurements and seat belt and child restraint use were conducted. The results of these analyses formed the basis for a compilation of central challenges and a decision on the primary targets of the RSP 2011-2020. The resulting approaches were subsequently coordinated with current developments on a European level in cooperation with the European Road Safety Council. During the consultation process with the members of the Austrian Road Safety Advisory Council, a catalogue of measures was generated. One significant key element of the RSP 2011-2020 is the road safety philosophy, characterised by the “Safe System Approach”, which is based on the Swedish safety philosophy “Vision Zero” and the Dutch “Sustainable Safety” concept. The Road Safety Programme follows the strategic principle that Austria be among the five best countries in Europe in the period from 2011-2020 with regard to road safety. Special attention will be paid to vulnerable road users. Reduction targets by 2020 include a decrease in the number of fatalities by 50% and injury accidents by 20%. Since the number of seriously injured road users has decreased to a lesser extent in recent years, the goals for the RSP 2011-2020 were supplemented with the group of seriously injured road users — with a target reduction of 40%. Also, interim targets of one half of the ultimate reduction value targets by 2015 were set. (Author/publisher)
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