Expected to foster a radical improvement of road safety in African countries, the Safe System approach is at the core of AfroSAFE. Tor Olav Nævestad explains its key principles.
A revolution in the world of traffic safety
During the 1990s, a real ‘revolution’ took place in the world of traffic safety. Countries like Sweden, Norway and the Netherlands were pioneers in formulating and then implementing what was later called the Safe System approach to road safety. The approach emerged as a response to a slowdown in traffic fatalities and injuries reduction and realisation that ‘doing more of the same’ would not bring the ultimate solution to the road safety problem.
Strong reduction in traffic fatalities
Partly as a consequence of the adoption of the Safe System approach, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands experienced strong reduction in traffic fatalities. Norway experienced a 73% reduction in traffic fatalities from 2000 to 2020; Sweden experienced a 63% reduction; Netherlands a 50% reduction. The two former countries have been world leaders in traffic safety in recent years.
TØI, Norway
State of the art approach to traffic safety management
By now, Safe System has become the state-of-the-art in traffic safety management, and it is recommended to countries worldwide, e.g. by the UN, ITF and OECD. Many countries around the globe, including those with low and middle incomes, are adopting the Safe System approach to learn from the world leaders.
The novelty of the Safe System approach
The novelty of Safe System is the ethical standpoint that traffic fatalities and severe injuries cannot be accepted, i.e. there is no ‘optimisation problem’ to solve and we must improve road safety until no one is killed or severely injured. Hence Vision Zero, which is another name for Safe System adopted in Norway and Sweden (referring to the systematic management approach to fulfil Vision Zero). The goal of Vision Zero may look unrealistic at the first sight, yet Safe System makes it achievable by clearly limiting the scope of the problem. While minor accidents are likely to continue to happen, all efforts and resources must be focused on prevention of the most severe ones with people injured and killed.
Four fundamental principles
In practical terms, Safe System has its grounds in four fundamental principles:
- It is human to make mistakes; the traffic system must be designed to tolerate (unintended) errors made by road users
- The traffic system must be designed so that the external forces in accidents do not exceed the human bodies’ tolerance for biomechanical impacts
- The responsibility for traffic safety must be shared by those who design, build, manage, and use roads and vehicles, as well as the providers of the post-crash care and emergency response
- All system components must be strengthened to multiply the protection effect; if one component fails, road users should still be protected.
Paradigm shift
The Safe System approach involves a cultural change (‘paradigm shift’) in the sense that the ‘blame the victim’ culture is superseded by ‘blaming the traffic system’, which turns the spotlight on authorities’ accountability.
Six pillars
The Safe System approach is generally summed up in six pillars, describing how road safety work should be organised:
i) Road safety management: Multi-sectoral partnerships and lead agencies to develop and lead national road safety strategies, plans and targets; research-based monitoring of implementation and effectiveness.
ii) Safe infrastructure: Inherently safe and protective road networks, especially for the most vulnerable (e.g. pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcyclists) road users.
iii) Safe vehicles: Standards, consumer information and incentives to accelerate the uptake of active and passive vehicle safety technologies.
iv) Safe speed: Speeds within the boundaries of biomechanical tolerance.
v) Safe road users: Enforcement and supplementary measures (e.g. public awareness/education) targeting high-risk behaviors.
vi) Post-crash response: Appropriate emergency response, treatment and rehabilitation for crash victims.
More information
- The Vision Zero Handbook (Open Access), edited by Karin Edvardsson Björnberg, Sven Ove Hansson, Matts-Åke Belin, Claes Tingvall.
- Other key readings on the Safe System
Stay tuned!