This exploration of the road safety effects of spatial planning and policy is one of SWOV's first explorations of external influences. In the whole path of environmental planning up to the level of local design, road safety is an inseparable part of the road traffic system. The design processes are carried out on three different levels: environmental planning, structure of the road network and design of this network's components. This exploration mainly aims at the top level: environmental planning. 

For a long time now, the largest growth of the numbers of factories, offices and houses was in what is known as 'the Randstad' i.e. the densely populated coastal area of the Netherlands. In the meantime this concentration is spreading to the eastern and southern parts of the country. For the future, the greatest mobility is expected in and around urban agglomerations, and along the arteries for the economic structure.

The Netherlands has a high degree of urbanisation. This is often accompanied by an increase of the urban density, i.e. the environment is used for multiple purposes and functions in the vicinity of large public transport junctions are combined and intensified. This then lowers the necessity of using a car and therefore car dependence. Also, there is a tendency towards scattered urbanization of the countryside, a trend that will continue for the coming twenty years. This results in traffic spreading over a larger area.