At the beginning of the 1990s, immediately after the fall of the communist regime, a dramatic worsening appeared in the road safety situation in Romania. This situation was very similar to those observed in other countries after a period of dictatorship, whether they are western European or former socialist countries. After a few years the situation improved from dramatic to bad, but as Romania is an important transit country for international road traffic, this situation became an important issue on the European integration agenda for Romania. International institutions became interested in helping Romania understand the magnitude and the importance of the problem and deal with it. In 1995, as a result of the work of the international cooperation between the Romanian government and the World Bank, based on the model used in France, the Inter-ministerial Council for Road Safety was established with very high-ranking members (the prime minister and nine other ministers). After almost ten years during which road safety became officially one of the priorities in the transport policies it is the right time to review what the results of the usage of the model are based on motorized countries experience. Are there more pros than cons? If the results are not convincing, what are the causes? Is scientific and professional knowledge based on Western experience not suitable for Romania or the ways are used these results inefficient? Are there some institutional problems? These questions are considered of great importance and the paper isttempt to analyze them and to give some answers (A). For the covering abstract of the conference see E217780.
Samenvatting