Towards a road safety plan for Flanders-Belgium

Abstract

In 2005 the Minister for Mobility in Flanders-Belgium commissioned the Policy Research Centre for Traffic Safety at Hasselt University to elaborate a traffic safety plan for the Flanders region in Belgium. The 3 regions in Belgium are quite autonomous in their road safety policy, so this plan can be considered to a large extent as an equivalent of a national road safety plan. The elaboration of the road safety plan started in the beginning of 2006 and is conducted in three steps. The first step is a thorough problem analysis (“status questionis”) of the traffic safety problem in Flanders. In this phase facts and figures are written down about the evolution of traffic safety in Flanders-Belgium. The second step consists of the designing of a strategic vision on the development of road safety in Flanders. In the third and last step a number of policy measures will be selected. All selected measures will be presented in the template of a check-list with information about the measure: estimated cost, feasibility, expected effects, implementation horizon,... A number of critical success factors are identified that might determine the resulting effects of the plan quite strongly: commitment of key actors, clear description of measures, competent governance, public support, sufficient financial resources and reliable data.