Assessment of road safety legislation, policy and institutional capacity in South-East European regions

Road safety has not consistently been considered in the design, maintenance and operation of road networks in South-East Europe. The objective of this paper is to provide a comparative assessment of road safety legislation, policy and institutional capacity in South-East European regions. On that purpose, an overview of the current road safety situation and the respective road safety management practices found in these countries have been identified followed by the results of the comparative assessment based on a common methodology (questionnaire filled in by road safety experts) carried out within the “ROSEE- ROad safety in South-East European regions” project. The results serve as a baseline for monitoring and evaluating progress of the road safety policies and road safety performance in each country. Results show important diversity in the structures and processes at the higher level of road safety management. Major problems in almost all countries include lack of a dedicated budget, difficulties in coordination of stakeholders and consequently difficulties in the implementation of programmes and measures.