Naevestad T.O., Wennberg H., Kaiser S., Yannis G., Laiou A., Nikolaou D., Blom J., Milch V., Hesjevoll I., Van den Berghe W., Meesmann U., De Rieck M., “Advancing Traffic Safety Culture: Developing a Conceptualisation of Cultural Maturity Among Traffic Safety Stakeholders”, Proceedings of the Transport Research Arena TRA 2026 Conference, Budapest, 18-21 May 2026.

In the road sector, the safety culture concept is usually applied to road users at work, focusing on the organisational culture in their organisations, or at the community level, focusing on the traffic safety culture (TSC) of road users as citizens in social units like nations, regions, local communities, peer groups, or even families. When we link the TSC concept to Safe System implementation, it is however evident that the concept also should be applied to stakeholders in the road transport sector (e.g. authorities, NGOs, insurance companies). Previous research indicates insufficient implementation of Safe System policies, even in pioneering countries. A major factor impeding the implementation of Safe System policies is insufficient TSC and low cultural maturity among traffic safety stakeholders. The study therefore aims to review previous research on TSC in general and stakeholders in specific, to develop a conceptualisation of TSC among stakeholders. The study is part of the EU-funded TRUST project.