Even if the Scandinavian countries have low fatality rates in road traffic compared to most other countries, the number of fatalities and serious injuries is considered too high, and the authorities in the Scandinavian countries have made visions, plans and targets for the reduction of road accidents. In Sweden the Vision Zero, implying no road fatalities and no severe injuries as the long-term target was approved by the parliament in 1997, and it has been the basis for Swedish road safety policy ever since. There is also a wealth of knowledge concerning effective accident countermeasures, responsible institutions with competent staff, and even money is available for road safety action to a certain extent. But the reduction in fatalities is slow, and the question remains why reduction is so slow? What are the barriers to implementation of more road accident countermeasures, and what is the potential for implementation of effective countermeasures? In order to understand the barriers and potentials for implementation of further road accident countermeasures in Sweden, the Swedish road safety efforts have been analyzed in a project carried out for the Swedish Road Administration. The focus of the project has been the Swedish Road Administration - SRA, which is responsible for road safety work in Sweden, and its relations with the political institutions and the police. This project has focused intra- and inter-organizational matters as well as the aspects of formulation of policy that are important for the intra- and inter-organizational matters. Thus, the focus of the project is policy formulation and design, intra- and inter-organizational behavior and the context to a limited extent. These factors are considered in general and in two case studies, the accident countermeasures median barriers and speed cameras. (A). For the covering abstract of the conference see E217780.
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