Factors influencing whether safety management systems are living after extensive reforms: An analysis of four Norwegian county authorities

• Norwegian county authorities' management of road safety has undergone major changes following a structural reform in 2020. • We assess whether four county authorities have been able to implement living systems for road safety management (SMS) three years after the reform. • We find considerable variation with respect to whether the county authorities have been able to implement road SMS that are perceived as alive. • Thus, the extent to which the county authorities have managed to maintain their key road safety roles after the reform differs substantially. • The most important influencing factors indicated in multivariate analyses are safety culture and demanding reorganization processes. Norwegian county authorities’ management of road safety has undergone major changes since 2020, when a structural reform was implemented. County authorities merged into fewer administrative units, and took over the responsibility for administering the county roads. Because of this, county authorities had to establish new systems for managing road safety. The aims of the study are to examine: 1) Whether four county authorities have implemented living systems for road safety management, three years after the 2020 regional reform, and 2) Factors influencing whether safety management systems are living, including the impact of extensive reforms. The study is based on qualitative research interviews (n = 42) and an online survey (n = 392). The extent to which the county authorities have managed to implement living safety management systems and maintain their key road safety roles differs substantially. Multivariate analyses show that the most important factors influencing whether county authorities have been able to implement living systems are the safety cultures in the county authorities, and the extent to which respondents believe that the reorganizations related to the structural reform have required a lot of time and energy.