Styrdokument som verktyg för att öka trafiksäkerheten

Sammanfattning: Since 2015, road traffic safety is included in the United Nations Agenda for Sustainable Development, meaning that methods for promoting road traffic safety are needed in order to reach the goals set for sustainable development. The purpose of this study is to examine the current situation and the potential of vehicle-related policy as a tool for promoting road traffic safety. The current situation has been examined through interviews and a quantitative content analysis of regulations in Swedish organisations’ policies. The potential for increasing road traffic safety by setting stricter regulations has been estimated with vehicle statistics and literature on relative risk reduction. Results from the quantitative content analysis and the interviews show that road traffic safety regulations are currently not prioritised in the same way as environmental regulations are. Furthermore, the results show that an increased inclusion of safety regulations in policies would lead to positive effects for both the organisations’ employees as well as other road users. This is because cars with certain safety systems and safety classifications have a reduced traffic accident risk. If organisations would demand that their cars, to a greater extent, is classified with the highest grade according to Euro NCAP (New Car Assessment Programme), it would mean that the general level of safety is increased in newly acquired cars. In order to reach these effects, organisations need to work in a more structured way in how they formulate and follow up on their policies. By presenting a safety footprint, similar to the climate footprint that today functions as an indicator for organisations’ environmental responsibility, road traffic safety can be included as an integral part of how organisations work with sustainability and eventually increase the status of road traffic safety in relation to environmental sustainability issues.