ISO 39001:2012 specifies requirements for a road traffic safety (RTS) management system to enable an organization that interacts with the road traffic system to reduce death and serious injuries related to road traffic crashes which it can influence.

The requirements in ISO 39001:2012 include development and implementation of an appropriate RTS policy, development of RTS objectives and action plans, which take into account legal and other requirements to which the organization subscribes, and information about elements and criteria related to RTS that the organization identifies as those which it can control and those which it can influence.

ISO 39001 sets out the minimum requirements for a Road Traffic Safety Management System. Governments, road authorities, safety groups and private companies were keen to develop such a standard due to the rising number of people killed or injured on the road each year.