Towards Zero:Ambitious Road Safety Targets and the Safe System Approach

Stephen Perkins

OECD-ITF Joint Transport Research Centre

Report published September 2008

• Working Group 2005 – 2008• 21 governments, World Bank, WHO,

FIA Foundation• Spain

– Candelaria Mederos-Cruz, DGT– Juan Carlos Gonzalez Luque, DGT

Targets: ECMT 50% 2000-2012

Total ECMT

0

20000

40000

60000

80000

100000

120000

140000

160000

1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012

Source: ECMT Fatalities Target Linear (Fatalities)

ProgressDeaths 2006 Deaths / 100 000

2005Annual

improvement: 2000-2007

Improvement to meet target:

2008-2012

Portugal 969 12-8.8% -0.9%

France 4709 9-7.7% -2.6%

Netherlands 730 5-5.9% -5.3%

Spain 4104 10-5.7% -5.5%

UK 3298 6-2.2% -10.2%

Romania 2478 121.6% -14.9%

Russia 32724 241.7% -15.0%

Strategy

• Develop a Safe System Approach– Integrating measures that target: infrastructure design,

maintenance, traffic management, vehicles, and driver behaviour– Shared responsibility / liability for safety between

drivers, police, road managers, traffic departments …

• The Safe System is for all countries– Philosophy: to design system to ensure crash impact energies

stay below levels that cause death and serious injury

• Intensify / transfer tried and tested measures:– Speed, Drink, Seatbelts, Safer vehicles

Safe System Targets

• Vision – zero deaths– Raises level of ambition– Stimulates new measures and research– Only ethical approach– Possible to achieve

• Zero child cyclists killed in Sweden in 2008, 1 child pedestrian

• Interim Targets – based on– Policies adopted– Modelled results of measures to be taken– Such evidence-based targets are needed to make ECMT / EU

50% improvement happen

Discussing the Safe System with senior policy makers

Michèle Merli, FranceIsabelle Kardacz, ECPere Navarro, Spain

Conclusions Tested at the High Level Seminar

• General support for the safe system• Vision Zero still questioned

but Towards Zero asks the right questions• Research + evaluation key to success

– Targeting and designing measures– Knowledge transfer and catch up – Keeping safety on the public agenda

• IRTAD data and analysis session at 16:00 today

www.international transport forum.org/ research / safety