On 1 October 2026, the European Road Safety Observatory (ERSO), the Eastern Partnership Road Safety Observatory (EaP RSO), and the Western Balkans Road Safety Observatory (WBRSO) with the support of the European Commission held a joint conference in Brussels. This event was hosted by the Commission as part of their Connecting Europe Days 2026 initiative and marked the first meeting of these Observatories.

Representatives came together to foster alignment of methodologies, improve data quality, and support evidence-based policymaking. The conference featured short observatory presentations, thematic panels and interactive working sessions to stimulate open discussion and the formation of new working relationships.

The session was opened by Claire Depré (DG MOVE) and Tamar Sulukhia (EaP RSO) who set out the meeting’s objectives to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and comparison of approaches to collecting, analysing and using road safety data, as well as to explore opportunities for cooperation between the three organisations.

Representatives from each observatory presented overviews of their organisation and their operating models to introduce attendees to their data work and they manage it. An interactive roundtable was then held in which participants discussed the challenges of data collection and the ways in which data can be used to inform decision-making. Attendees highlighted the implementation of CaDAS and CARE and possibilities for greater alignment across European regions.

The afternoon events placed a strong emphasis on the productive exchange of practice and began with a panel discussion on seatbelts and KPIs. Observatory representatives shared examples approaches to collecting seatbelt-use data in Armenia, Moldova and the Czech Republic, illustrating the practical implications and experiences of implementing KPIs into data collection and analysis. The discussion of these methodologies and their results was moderated by ERSO and EaP RSO and strong support was shown for the measuring of KPIs.

ERSO provided an update on the CARE database methodology and Manual, highlighting its relevance for supporting regional alignment. Transport Community Treaty representative Goran Temovski then explained WBRSO’s roadmap for six new regional partners to join EU CARE as observers and begin the process of integrating them into the community of member states who contribute to and can make use of the database. Providing access to Eurostat EDAMIS training for data uploading is the planned next step.

The session culminated with a discussion of future cooperation with IFIs and other organisations and between the Observatories on research activities and policy recommendations. This meeting served as an important platform for participants to share their experiences and best practice knowledge with each other and established strong foundations for future collaboration.