Road safety strategy
The Road Safety Plan is a companion document to the Transport Plan and its primary role is to increase road safety.
The Road Safety Plan outlines a 15-year road safety strategy in Iceland. The set goals and priorities are aimed at achieving and increasing road safety. The implementation of the plan is under the responsibility of the Ministry of Infrastructure and the responsible projects at the Road Administration, the Icelandic Transport Authority and the National Commissioner of Police, in addition to the Ministry. The current plan is valid for 2024-2038.
Government policy on road safety
Fatal and serious accidents in traffic are unacceptable. Human life and health must be paramount and safety must be at the top of the priority list of actions in traffic matters. When planning, designing and constructing traffic infrastructure, safety must be a priority because human error is inevitable. Governments and institutions must cooperate well with all road user groups to reach agreement on actions that increase the safety of all road users.
Goals
The goals of the traffic plan are of three types:
Main goals are general in nature and all actions of the traffic safety plan should contribute to achieving them.
Sub-goals cover a defined proportion of traffic accidents and all support the overall goals.
Performance goals contribute to improving the condition of the traffic system and the behavior of all road users, which in turn contributes to reducing accidents and thus supports the overall goals.
Main goals
The overall goals of the traffic safety plan until 2038 are:
That Iceland will be among the top five European countries in terms of the number of road deaths per 100,000 inhabitants.
The number of deaths and serious injuries will decrease by an average of 5% per year by 2038.
The cost of accidents per kilometer driven will decrease by an average of 5% per year by 2038.
Sub-goals
Sub-goals in the road safety plan focus on a specific segment of road accidents, and their indicators are used to show what types of accidents are developing in the wrong direction and thus what types of actions are most needed to reduce the number of accidents and thereby increase road safety. There are twelve sub-goals.
Performance goals
Performance goals and performance indicators do not focus on accidents, but on the attitude and behavior of road users in traffic, the quality of roads and the quality of vehicles. By achieving the set goals, we will have safer road users, safer roads and safer vehicles, thereby reducing the number of accidents and thereby increasing road safety.
Laws and regulations
The current Road Safety Plan is from 2024-2038 and you can read more about the goals in the Road Safety Plan. You can also find an interactive version of the Road Safety Plan here.
Service provider
The Icelandic Transport Authority