Although the traffic safety records of Sweden, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands are the best among the countries of the European Union, their accident tolls are still unacceptably high. New ways for further improvement have to be, and are being sought, to further reduce the number of casualties in these countries. Interestingly, the strategies, which have produced the relatively good results, are quite different in these three countries. So, the question arose as to what exactly made them work in coping with the traffic safety problem. And further, if specific beneficial patterns or underlying concepts can be determined, is it then possible to interchange them. A better insight into the development of policies and programmes in these countries might help to identify key factors, which could further improve current safety practice in each of them. Moreover, it might offer guidance for remedial actions in other countries of the EU, applicant states, and other countries as well. Learning from each other and putting that learning into practice, is an indispensable part of gaining maximum improvement in traffic safety. Such improvement should be given high priority, considering that each year more than 40,000 citizens of the EU meet premature death on the roads. Moreover, ideas are in progress to come up with a quantitative target to reduce the number of fatalities by 50 per cent in the EU in ten years time.In this context, a study was carried out to assess the background to the safety strategies of Sweden, the UK and the Netherlands: the SUN countries. The results of this study are of special value in the progress of development of the safety programmes of the three countries. The methodology of the study has been designed in such a way that it can be used as a basis for comparative studies among other Member States.