Vision Zero

How a Policy Innovation is Dashed by Interest Conflicts, but May Prevail in the End

Authors

  • Matts-Åke Belin Karolinska Institutet, Department of Public Health Sciences; Swedish Transport Administration
  • Per Tillgren Karolinska Institutet, Department of Public Health; Mälardalen University, School of Health, Care and Social Welfare

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.58235/sjpa.v16i3.16258

Keywords:

Vision Zero, Implementation, Road Safety, Legislation, Process evaluation

Abstract

In October 1997 the Swedish Parliament adopted a new road safety policy – Vision Zero. Vision Zero entails a fundamentally new division of responsibility for traffic safety between road users and the so called system designers such as road administrations, municipalities, and professional transport companies among others. In this study the implementation of a formal responsibility for system designers to prevent serious injuries in road traffic between 1997 and 2009 is evaluated. Two main research questions have guided this study namely: How has the legislative process of formalizing the responsibility of system designers progressed? and What important factors might explain the implementation outcome? The main sources of information for this study were official key documents. Based on a goal attainment model, an important conclusion is that the goal to legally formalize a responsibility has only been minimally realized and therefore this might be an example of a classic implementation failure. In order to explain and discuss this low level of achievement a process evaluation approach has also been used. Built on this process evaluation approach, it can be questioned if this is an example of implementation failure after all.

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Author Biographies

Matts-Åke Belin, Karolinska Institutet, Department of Public Health Sciences; Swedish Transport Administration

Matts-Åke Belin has a long history within the Swedish government and he works primarily with overall safety policies, strategies and collaboration with different stakeholders. In 2007–2009 Dr. Belin worked for World Health Organization where he participated in the development of global road safety strategies and global partnership. In 2012 Dr. Belin awarded a PhD at the Karolinska Institutet with his thesis "Public Road Safety Policy Change and Its Implementation - Vision Zero a road safety policy innovation." Currently, Dr. Belin is responsible for the development of Vision Zero Academy. Matts-Åke Belin is also a visiting researcher at Chalmers University of Technology.

Per Tillgren, Karolinska Institutet, Department of Public Health; Mälardalen University, School of Health, Care and Social Welfare

Per Tillgren worked for Stockholm County Council's health administration during the 1970’s and 80’s. There professor Tillgren, in collaboration with the municipalities and the provincial government, worked with health promotion and disease prevention. Thereafter professor Tillgren was responsible for development of the disease prevention and health promotion at the Karolinska Institutet, Department of Social Medicine. Professor Tillgren is currently active at Mälardalen University, the School of Health, Care and Social Welfare. His research has primarily been focused on community analysis, implementation and evaluation of health promotion and the underlying policy processes.

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Published

2012-09-15

How to Cite

Belin, M.- Åke, & Tillgren, P. (2012). Vision Zero: How a Policy Innovation is Dashed by Interest Conflicts, but May Prevail in the End. Scandinavian Journal of Public Administration, 16(3), 83–102. https://doi.org/10.58235/sjpa.v16i3.16258

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