In order to achieve significant improvements in road safety at the national level, there is a need for a systematic approach to road safety management with clear responsibilities and accountability. In this paper – after a review of the literature on guidelines, recommendations and research findings – twelve essential elements of such a systematic approach are pointed out, and corresponding relevant issues are discussed. These elements are: 1) Define the burden and nature of road casualties; 2) Gain commitment and support from decision makers; 3) Establish road safety policy; 4) Define institutional roles and responsibilities; 5) Identify road safety problems; 6) Set road safety targets; 7) Formulate a strategy and action plan; 8) Allocate responsibility for measures; 9) Ensure funding; 10) Apply measures with known effectiveness; 11) Monitor performance; and 12) Stimulate research and capacity building. The main conclusions are that: a) Monetary values of statistical life have to be established; b) The police register of accidents should be combined with the hospital register; c) Exposure data for all types of road users is necessary; d) The three-dimensional analysis of road safety problems should be employed; e) Safety performance indicators should be used; f) Only countermeasures with known effectiveness should be applied; g) Performance of countermeasures should be monitored on a yearly basis; and h) Commitment from decision makers is decisive!

User-related assessment of a level 3 automated driving system, providing functions such as lane- and distance-keeping, stop & go driving, lane change and overtaking, was carried out on a motorway in Germany with the aim to assess user-related issues of automated driving, i.e., behavior when driving with automation on motorways, user experiences, reactions and acceptance. Twenty-one persons drove twice along the test route once with the system switched off and once with the system active. Driving data were logged and driving behavior was observed by two observers in the car and the drivers answered questionnaires. The results revealed that the drivers used the system as it was intended to be used and that the system affected driving positively in several ways, resulting in better speed adaptation, less speed variation, better distance keeping, better lane choice, better indicator usage and fewer dangerous lane changes. No differences with regard to subjective workload were shown. The system was perceived as being both useful and satisfactory. However, it was found that the system did not react to other drivers’ intention to make a lane change, especially in situations where they were attempting to merge onto the motorway. Further development is needed to improve the system’s ability to recognize other vehicles’ intention to enter the vehicle’s own lane. Also, the phenomenon of the driver “feeling guilty” because of the system’s reckless behavior by not allowing other drivers to merge onto the motorway or hindering other cars behind due to lengthy overtaking should be investigated further.

Directive 2008/96/EC on road infrastructure safety management requires the establishment and implementation of procedures relating to road safety impact assessments (RSIA), road safety audits (RSA), ranking of high accident concentration sections and network safety ranking (NSR) and road safety inspections (RSI). The aim of this article is to present the outputs of BALTRIS project. The goal of the international project BALTRIS is to elaborate the road and street infrastructure safety management procedures and teaching material consistently explaining the above mentioned infrastructure management procedures. Four Baltic Sea region countries (Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania), represented by universities and national road administrations participate in the elaboration of these procedures and teaching material. This article describes the scope of NSR, RSA and RSI procedures prepared in the frame of BALTRIS project, also article provides detailed implementation and execution of procedures for the EU Member States. NSR means a method for identifying, analysing and classifying parts of the existing road network according to their potential for safety development and accident cost savings. Ranking of high accident concentration sectionsmeans a method to identify, analyse and rank sections of the road network which have been in operation for 3÷5 years and upon which a large number of fatal/injury accidents in proportion to the traffic flow or compared to respective conditions have occurred. RSI is a strategic comparative analysis of the impact of the new road or a substantial modification to the existing network on the safety performance of the road network. RSA is a formal safety performance examination of the existing or future road or intersection by an independent audit team.