STPA-Based Analysis of the Process Involved in Enforcing Road Safety in Austria

The European Commission pursues a strategic action plan using the “Safe System” approach. The function, layout and design of roads shall be coordinated in such a way that human error is compensated, and possible accidents no longer cause fatalities or serious injuries. Four fields of action are defined: people, vehicles, roads and laws. This study aims to model the process involved in road safety management in Austria based on the System-Theoretic Process Analysis (STPA) and to identify areas of improvement that also meet these goals. This is intended to create the basis for a method that can also be applied in practice to meet the “Safe System” approach. The traffic authorities or road owners are responsible for monitoring and enforcing road safety in Austria. Their main instrument is the Road Safety Inspection (RSI) that focuses primarily on road traffic planning aspects. This study proposes a method for including human-road-vehicle interactions in RSI. The STPA-based analysis showed how the road safety management and RSI can be improved to provide more comprehensive, accurate and relevant information about hazards at various levels of the safety management structure. The results can be used for improving the safety of all road users.