The United States continues to face a road traffic public health crisis. Fatalities and serious injuries as a result of road crashes have climbed over the past decade, following years of recorded high numbers. Every year, roughly 40,000 people die on US roadways. If this trend continues, then close to half a million people will be killed on US roadways over the next decade.
The Safe System approach offers an essential framework to progress toward the Vision Zero goal of zero fatalities and serious injuries. Representing a fundamental shift in road safety, this approach moves away from a context that accepts traffic fatalities and serious injuries as inevitable to one that actively works to prevent them. Vision Zero is based on the principle that no loss of life or serious injury is acceptable within the worldwide road transport system.
This paper discusses the application of Safe System and Vision Zero principles to advance road safety in the United States. Our analysis also addresses how these principles align with the National Roadway Safety Strategy of the US Department of Transportation. Applying the Safe System approach is critical to enable innovations to contribute to, rather than compromise, safety goals as transportation systems evolve—technology and other dimensions cannot be considered or managed in isolation.
