Background In the beginning of 90’s the Baltic states’ road safety fatality records were among the worst in Europe. After that period, the situation has been improved essentially, but despite of that the Baltic states still remain not the safest countries in Europe. An important role here played the road safety strategies, first developed already in 1990’s. This paper analysis the safety situation developments in the Baltic states as well the role of road safety strategies, which have been slightly different in three countries.

Methods Statistical analysis on road safety data gives us a rather clear picture about the safety situation in three Baltic states- Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. The background data hereby has been included, in order to explain the transportation situation and it’s impacts on safety. The content analysis of the strategies shows the similarities and differences of the strategies introduced in different countries, as well as the impact on the safety records.

Results The results of this research shows clearly that in spite of the different strategic approach towards the road safety, the basic trends of the road safety in three Baltic states have big similarities. It proves that even the measures introduced in three Baltic states and written in strategies are different ones, the basic safety trends are influenced not only by the strategies, but also by the social impact, like motorization or spatial planning.

Conclusions The role of road safety strategies have been important in order to evaluate the safety situation as well as to rank the countries with other countries. The numeric goals, included in the strategies are important in order to follow the main safety trends. But in spite of that, some general impact factors have been estimated to be as important as strategies. Here the main important could be listed – motorization, road network data, population, road user attitudes, etc.