Sustainable & Safe A vision and Guidance for Zero Road Deaths

Sustainable & Safe A vision and Guidance for Zero Road Deaths

The aim of this report is to facilitate the application of the Safe System approach to road safety. It provides an overview of the concepts and evidence behind a Safe System, discusses the relevance of this approach to low- and middle-income countries, and the wider benefits to health and the environment, and presents practical guidance that can be applied to develop a strategy and action plan to reduce traffic deaths while also achieving broader sustainability goals. The guidance focuses on action areas that have been shown to save lives and reduce serious injuries. 

The report can be used at several levels of government and applied in urban, rural, and intercity contexts. Policymakers can use the guidance to prepare strategies to address key issues in their local contexts through proven solutions. Decision makers are encouraged to combine local knowledge and evidence with the broader evidence base of what works to inform their planning.

Highlights ⌵︎

• Some 1.25 million people die each year as a result of unsafe roads. Traffic deaths and serious injuries impose huge social and financial costs, particularly in low and middle-income countries, where 90 percent of deaths occur.

• This report provides guidance for policymakers on how to develop a context-specific Safe System–based road safety strategy. It draws on a review of evidence-based literature, interviews with sector experts, statistical analysis, and the authors’ experience working with cities.

• The Safe System approach requires a shift in responsibility from the people using roads to the people designing them. It is a systemic approach that integrates core management elements and action areas to create a safe mobility system. This report describes the components of the approach and presents evidence on its life-saving impact. 

• Analysis of traffic fatalities in 53 countries conducted for this report finds that countries that have adopted a Safe System–based approach to road safety achieved both the lowest rates of fatalities and the largest reduction in fatalities over the past 20 years.