Safe System improves road safety globally

The challenge is both huge and vital: to help improve road safety in a global perspective. Sweden has made great progress, but cannot simply export its solutions outright. So says Anna Vadeby, senior VTI researcher and one of those leading the international work.

Between 2011 and 2020, an estimated 13 million people died in road traffic accidents worldwide, with 90 percent of the accidents occurring in low- and middle-income countries. Road traffic accidents are the leading cause of death among children and young adults aged 5–29. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of serious accidents decreased, but this decline has now stopped.

In light of this – and given the state of the world and all the other global challenges – one might ask whether the world is interested in road safety. Anna Vadeby thinks that the answer is yes.

“Road safety is included in the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and is definitely on the global agenda. Moreover, road safety is not an isolated issue, but is linked to several other SDGs. For example, lower speeds reduce emissions and are good for the climate,” she says.

Within the “Advancing the safe system” project, Anna Vadeby leads a working group to concretise a framework for increased road safety that was presented last year – The Safe System Approach in Action. The framework is based on the Safe System principles, which recognises that people are fragile, make mistakes and that the traffic system must take this into account. At the same time, it emphasises that we road users have a responsibility to be considerate, follow traffic rules and keep the speed limits.

In Sweden we have Vision Zero, but it is really the same thing. One basic premise is that the human body is fragile and that the traffic system must therefore be designed to prevent serious consequences from accidents,” says Anna Vadeby.

The framework the working group is developing focuses on how to put the Safe System principles into practice. This involves establishing and engaging road safety authorities in all countries, sharing responsibilities between different actors, working in parallel on different aspects of road safety, and protecting road users from serious injuries in connection with road accidents. And, not least, it involves promoting safe behaviour among all road users.

Anna Vadeby is one of Sweden's leading road safety experts. She also says that she learns a lot from the international cooperation.

“It is particularly humbling. We may think that it is difficult to get various things adopted here in Sweden, but that is nothing compared to how it can be in other countries. I also realise how important it is to involve everyone, to make people and different actors part of the process.”

The international project is run by the International Transport Forum (ITF) and will run from 2023 to 2024.