The standard of Austrian traffic safety could be much higher than it currently is. This becomes particularly obvious if we compare Austrian traffic safety indicators with those of other countries. No matter which indicator is taken into account, the Austrian road accident rate is at least twice as high as in the countries leading in road safety. It is true that the annual number of people killed on Austrian roads has been decreasing in tendency since the early 70s, however, this decrease should take place at a much quicker pace. On January 17, 2001 a conference entitled "National Traffic Safety Programme 2001" took place in Vienna. It was initiated by our institute and organised in co-operation with an Austrian daily. National and international road safety experts, the Austrian Minister of Transport and the Austrian Minister of the Interior were among those 200 people who attended the event. The main goal of the conference was to make both political decision-makers and experts on road safety realise that a comprehensive national traffic safety programme does not exist in Austria. By considering (1) Austrian trends as derived from certain traffic safety indicators; (2) the current traffic safety standard in Austria as compared to other countries; (3) the main reasons for accidents; and (4) the social costs of accidents involving personal injury, a proposal for a national traffic safety programme fitting Swedish standards is elaborated. The main requirements for such a programme are highlighted, as for instance the co-ordination and evaluation of the programme, as well as the matter of funding. Furthermore, different sets of safety measures to be included in the programme are discussed. At the end of the day, a proposal is forwarded on how to design a national safety programme which could and should be implemented this very year. The price which we have to pay for our mobility is far too high. Right now, an abundance of traffic safety instruments already exists but they have yet to be properly implemented. Therefore, a national traffic safety programme which is supported by the government, professionally managed and thoroughly put into practice would be an important step towards a major improvement of traffic safety. (A) For the covering abstract of the conference see ITRD no 207828. The reprints are also available at the web - http://www.vti.se/pdf/reports/K18APart1.pdf; http://www.vti.se/pdf/reports/K18APart2.pdf and http://www.vti.se/pdf/reports/K18APart3.pdf.
Samenvatting