At the end of 1999, UEMOA, the Economic and Monetary Union for West Africa, launched a study of the road safety situation and management processes in seven of the eight countries of the Union (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cite d'Ivoire, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Togo), in view of formulating Communal Road Safety Policies at the regional level. A team of African and European "experts" was formed to establish a diagnosis on each country as well as a global assessment of the situation in the region, and to draw proposals for action. The final report was published in March 2000 and is now being evaluated by UEMOA and integrated into a wider proposal for transport policies, for presentation at a round table of donors. The present paper does not provide a complete summary of the outcome of the study, but presents a selection of some difficult problems encountered in the countries investigated and directions for possible solutions as seen by the researchers and consultants that took part in the study. Comprehensive proposals and guidelines for Communal Road Safety Policies are not included as they have not officially been accepted by UEMOA yet, but the original report can be requested from this organisation in Ouagadougou. A brief outline of the approach and methodology used is described. More complete methodological guidelines, developed from the experience gathered through the UEMOA study as well as previous ones carried out by Inrets (the French National Institute for Transport and Safety Research) will be published at a later stage.