Improving Road Safety in Serbia

The EU-funded project Improving Road Safety in Serbia has commenced implementation activities. Following approval of the Inception Report and despite the present Coronavirus pandemic, the Project has made appropriate arrangements to continue working and is still on track to contribute to increasing the level of road safety in the Republic of Serbia.

The main goal of the project is improvement of the road safety situation and reduction in the risk of road crashes for all road users in Serbia, both at the national and local level. Consequently, the ultimate target beneficiaries are all road users on Serbian roads who will feel the impacts and benefits through reduced risk of road casualties – road deaths and serious injuries, extending well beyond the Project’s completion.

In addition, the overall objectives of this project aim to improve the quality, safety and capacity of the road transport network in the transport sector, and also to enhance the development of the South-East Europe Core Regional Transport Network, focusing particularly on road safety. This is well in line with the goals promoted by UN and EC, and also consistent with the goals defined by the Road Safety Strategy for the Republic of Serbia.

To achieve these goals, the following components have been developed:

• Improving capacity of traffic safety management in local communities,
• Establishing MAIS3+ scale of injury classification system
• Improving road infrastructure management, at national and local level.

Specific tasks and activities have been designed under each of these components to contribute to project implementation and achievement of its results. These components will result in significant increase in capability of local road safety bodies to improve road safety in their communities, introduce an improved traffic accident injury classification system in line with MAIS3+, improve capability of national and local government officials to apply proven road safety tools and to identify and improve the most dangerous sections of State and Local roads. The schedule of activities has been adjusted to reflect the constraints caused by the present Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) restrictions. 

The Project will be implemented by a Consortium led by SAFEGE and will include all main road safety stakeholders in the Republic of Serbia, such as Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure (MCTI), Road Traffic Safety Agency (RTSA), Ministry of Interior – Traffic Police Administration (MoI-TPA), Ministry of Health (MoH), Public Enterprise “Roads of Serbia” (PERS) and Local governments. Other stakeholders, such as the general public/individuals, media, business sector, etc., will also be mobilised and kept informed, as they will also benefit from Project implementation and its results.