Traffic Safety matters. Consequently the literature on technical and psychological aspects of traffic safety is broad. Nevertheless European Commission’s role in the improvement of Traffic safety and the actors´ constellations in European Traffic Safety Policy tend to be overlooked in research on European Transport Policy. This paper presents an approach to reveal the crucial elements in European Traffic Safety Policy by using the Multiple Streams Perspective (MSP) for the analysis of the eCall project fostered by the European Commission. One key concept in ensuring policy compliance to safety lies in procuring all necessary information for the policy process and understanding the process itself. MSP offers a precious contribution since it defines the policy process as varying constellations of different actors at different moments in time. These actors’ constellations emerge under conditions of ambiguity. The distribution of relevant information for the policy process is hampered by ambiguity, due to a notion of a very broad spectrum of different motifs, ideas, beliefs and diverse patterns of thinking. These mechanisms generate an erratic and puzzled policy process and result in an unpredictability outcome and impact. Furthermore the use of quantified methodologies is disregarded. Technologies are opaque and policy preferences remain unclear. In MSP policy can be described as a game of opportunities essentially influenced by focusing events and policy entrepreneurs. Focusing events are able to disrupt the dominant pattern of thinking about a problem and thus the erupting policy process. Policy entrepreneurs have the power and potential to manipulate the actor constellations agenda towards a certain policy by using framing, venue shopping, salami tactics and different policy modes. Thereby policy entrepreneurs have the capability to join the streams during windows of opportunity. This paper shows the different actors’ constellations and discloses the focusing events and policy entrepreneurs that influenced the eCall project.
