Sidsel Sandelien was hired by the Norwegian Public Roads Administration as the first full-time employee to devote full attention to traffic safety. Tonight, Sidsel talks about how traffic safety was first taken seriously in the 1970s, and what fruits it has borne.
Sidsel began by locating the accidents on aerial photographs, with a focus on the fact that it was not only the road user who was "to blame" for the accidents. Speed-reducing measures and safer intersections were important. In 1995, the "zero vision" came from Sweden - the ambitious goal of zero traffic fatalities. This gave new energy to traffic safety work and was followed up in Norway from 1999. Many said it was impossible, but after more than 50 years, the results show that systematic traffic safety work is useful:
While in the 1970s it was common to lose over 100 children in road traffic accidents, in 2019 no children died. In total, the number of traffic deaths has dropped from a peak of 560 in 1970 to under 100 today. Still not zero – but the vision is still alive and sets the standard for safety thinking for everyone who plans and manages road traffic, and all of us who travel in it.
Sidsel Sandelien was one of Norway's first civil engineers in civil engineering, graduating from NTH (NTNU) in 1968. She has held various key positions in the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, including as Director of Environment and Technology in the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, State Roads Manager in Oslo and Regional Roads Manager for Eastern Norway from 2002 to 2012.
