Progress in traffic safety is the result of many developments, starting with political decisions, the
development of safety plans and actions, and the implementation of these plans and actions. This paper
explores ways of presenting road safety information in such a way as to help understand how the
interaction between many factors leads to improvements in the safety quality components of the traffic
system, and finally to reductions of road casualties. Simple one-factor bar charts cannot be used to this
effect.
In the SUNflower+6 project, a methodology has been developed that results in a 'road safety
footprint' for a country or jurisdiction. This footprint helps to identify strong and weak points in the traffic
system, to direct to further and more detailed analyses, and to assist in finding ways to further road safety
improvements. The development of this method was one of the goals of the SUNflower+6 project, which
aimed to assess the state of the art in road safety of nine European countries and presented
recommendations for the improvement of road safety in these countries and the European Commission.
A footprint gives a representation of the road safety status and development over time in a
country, which can be used for benchmarking purposes. At this stage, the proposed methodology is
considered to be a first step, which may eventually grow into a widespread tool for benchmarking road
safety. In the near future further research will be carried out to learn from practical application of the
developed methodology in more countries and jurisdictions in the world.
