This paper describes that road safety management is a difficult and often an unwelcome task for decision makers. The paper analyses the respective preoccupations of decision makers and researchers. The paper shows that relationships between decision makers and researchers do not always develop smoothly. The former may feel pushed into actions they are in no hurry to take. The researchers see the results of their efforts criticized as "irrealistic", because they do not integrate sufficiently the "political" constraints experienced by professionals. Methodological arguments may also arise, as researchers normally examine the road safety problem as a complex system involving multiple interactions between its its components. However, decision makers tend to break the road safety problem into separate elements. This facilitates allocation of responsibilities within an existing administrative framework, but eliminates a vast area of knowledge and progress opportunities. It seems that the critical issues opposing researchers and decision makers need to be clarified and better understood in order to improve the safety work quality. Decision-making processes should become a research object in their own right.
Samenvatting