Strengthening Road Safety Legislation

Book excerpt: This manual describes methods and resources for practitioners and decision-makers to use for enacting new laws or regulations or amending existing ones as part of a comprehensive road safety strategy. The manual covers steps to be taken to address five main risk factors and post-crash care. It can therefore be used to: * develop an understanding of the framework of legislation and relevant processes that are applicable in a country * review current national legislation and regulations and identify gaps that hinder implementation and enforcement of effective road safety measures * identify available resources, including international agreements, evidence-based guidance and recommendations on effective measures, to improve legislation * prepare action plans to strengthen national legislation and regulations for the five main risk factors and for post-crash care, including advocating for improvement. Other important topics should also be addressed to achieve a comprehensive national system of road safety legislation and regulation; however, they are beyond the scope of this manual. They include: vehicle and helmet manufacturing standards and testing, third-party insurance, victim's rights and compensation, a graduated driver licensing system, road audits and design standards and driving hours for commercial drivers.