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Safe System Approach

Road safety

¿What is the Safe System Approach?

The Safe System Approach is a road design strategy that emphasizes minimizing the risks of injuries or fatalities for road users. This approach considers:
  1. The possibilities of human error.
  2. The injury tolerance depending on crash types.
  3. The resulting impact forces.
  4. The human body’s ability to withstand the forces of an impact.
  5. Vulnerable road users.
  6. Creating a system with redundancy through layers of protection at different levels.
Death/serious injuries are unacceptable Humans make mistakes Humans are vulnerable Redundancy is neccesary Safety is proactive Shared responsibility Post-incidentcare Safespeeds Saferoads Safeusers Safevehicles SafeSystemapproach(SSA)

Principles

  • Deaths/serious injuries are unacceptable

    This approach emphasizes that no one should suffer serious injuries or die as a result of using the transportation system.

  • Humans make mistakes

    This approach recognizes that road users will inevitably make mistakes. Therefore, the road system must be planned, designed, and operated to tolerate these errors without leading to serious injuries.

  • Humans are vulnerable

    The human body’s tolerance for crash impacts is limited. This approach works on managing the exchange of kinetic energy caused by collisions between vehicles, objects, and road users to prevent serious injuries.

  • Shared responsibility

    Everyone must work together to ensure that transportation-related incidents do not result in deaths or serious injuries.

  • Safety is proactive

    Transportation agencies must use proactive, data-driven tools to identify and mitigate latent risks in the system rather than waiting for incidents to occur and then reacting to them.

  • Redundancy is neccesary

    All elements of the system must be strengthened so that if one fails, others can protect people.

Elements

  • Safe users

    The Safe System Approach addresses the safety of all users, including pedestrians, cyclists, public transport users, and other modes of transportation.

  • Safe vehicles

    Vehicles are designed and regulated to minimize the occurrence and severity of collisions using the latest safety technologies.

  • Safe speeds

    Humans have a low likelihood of surviving high-speed crashes. Reducing speeds can improve human tolerance to injuries in three ways: reducing impact forces, providing additional time for drivers to stop, and improving visibility.

  • Safe roads

    Designing roads to accommodate human error and injury tolerance can significantly reduce the severity of crashes that do occur. Examples include physically separating people traveling at different speeds, providing dedicated times for various users to move through a space, and alerting users to dangers and other road users.

  • Post-incident care

    When someone is injured in an incident, they depend on first responders to locate them, stabilize their injuries, and transport them to medical facilities. Post-incident care also includes forensic analysis at the crash site, traffic incident management, and other activities.