How do road safety countermeasures find their way into public and policy and practice? [ABSTRACT ONLY]

We would all like to believe that the formulation, and subsequent implementation, of road safety policy is an objective, evidence-driven process in which all the priority problems are effectively addressed.  In reality: ?Policy making resembles a primeval soup ? action occurs fitfully as problems wax and wane and pressures come and go? (Lindblom and Woodhouse in The Policy Making Process).  However, we are making progress; in Australia, the research community, the program administrators and the policy makers are probably closer to each other than ever before.  But we have a long way to go, particularly in changing institutional beliefs and in achieving integrated policy making.  This paper explores the lessons we might learn from our ?case history?. It addresses each of the major steps in policy making and implementation ? shaping the underpinning ?mindset?, defining the key problems, creating a climate for action, development and analysis of countermeasure options, the decision making process, traps in implementation, and the output/outcome evaluation process.