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In the early 1990s, in order to improve road safety in The Netherlands, the Institute for Road Safety Research (SWOV) developed an evidence-based "Sustainable Safety" concept. Based on this concept, Dutch road safety policy, was seen as successful and as a best practice in Europe. In The Netherlands, the policy context has now changed from a sectoral policy setting towards a fragmented network in which safety is a facet of other transport-related policies. In this contribution, it is argued that the implementation strategy underlying Sustainable Safety should be aligned with the changed context. In order to explore the adjustments needed, two perspectives of policy implementation are discussed: (1) national evidence-based policies with sectoral implementation; and (2) decentralized negotiation on transport policy in which road safety is but one aspect. We argue that the latter approach matches the characteristics of the newly evolved policy context best, and conclude with recommendations for reformulating the implementation strategy.

Previous research has found that the priority given to road safety measures is not based on the results of economic analyses, in particular costbenefit analysis. This paper tries to identify some reasons for this fact. Knowledge utilisation theory is applied as a framework for identifying barriers.

The objective of this paper is the analysis of road safety management in European countries and the identification of "good practice". A road safety management investigation model was created, based on several "good practice" criteria. Road safety management systems have been thoroughly investigated in 14 European countries on 2010, by means of interviews with both governmental representatives and independent experts, who filled in an extensive questionnaire. A reliable and accurate picture ("profile") was created for each country, allowing country comparisons. Then, statistical methods were used to make rankings of countries, and analyse the relationship between road safety management and road safety performance. The results of the analyses suggest that it is not possible to identify one single "good practice". Nevertheless, there were several elements that emerged as "good practice" criteria. On the basis of the results, recommendations are proposed at national and European level.