Road

About us

The road and land defence department in the Norwegian Safety Investigation Authority (NSIA) investigates certain categories of serious road traffic accidents and incidents. The purpose of the investigations is to clarify the sequence of events and the contributing factors in accidents, and contribute to improve traffic safety, without apportioning blame and liability. All our investigation reports are public and are published on our website.

Notification

The NSIA cover the whole of Norway and have a 24-hour on-call system. The Police and the Norwegian Public Roads Administration (NPRA) shall immediately notify of serious accidents involving heavy vehicles or buses, serious accidents in tunnels or involving hazardous goods. The obligation to notify also includes other accidents in cases where they consider that the NSIA may have an interest in investigating, as well as accidents subject to more specified criteria determined by the NSIA.

Selection

The NSIA has no statutory duty to investigate in the road sector, and has the authority to decide which accidents to investigate. On the basis of obtained information, the NSIA decides whether an investigation should be launched, and whether there is a need for an inspection on site. The decision is based on an overall assessment of the various factors in the accident and the expected learning and safety gains. When selecting the accidents, emphasis is placed on what learning the investigation is expected to provide for improving road traffic safety, as well as the severity of the accident, its impact on road safety in general and whether it is part of a series of accidents or incidents.

Investigation process

The investigations target both road users, vehicles and roads, as well as organisational and systemic level. The NSIA itself decides the scope and delimitation of the investigations and how they are carried out.

Detailed description of progress and methodology in the NSIA’s investigations:

https://www.nsia.no/About-us/Investigation-process and https://www.nsia.no/About-us/Methodology

Final report is sent to the Ministry of Transport, which takes the necessary measures to ensure that any safety recommendations are duly considered. The Norwegian Road Safety Authority is responsible for, on behalf of the Ministry of Transport, following up on all road safety recommendations.

The road and land defence department

The road and land defence department has responsibility for investigating both road traffic accidents and land-based accidents in the military. The department has employees with relevant expertise in operational work, road users and human factors, vehicles and technology, road and traffic engineering, the Armed Forces, organisation and management.

The Road Traffic and Land Defence Department is led by Department Director Ingvild K. Ytrehus.