Safe System approach A beckoning perspective for children

Transcription

1 Plenary Session 1 Safe System approach A beckoning perspective for children Fred Wegman Emeritus Professor, Traffic Safety at Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands

2 Traditional approach: for example Five pillars from the Decade of Action 1. Road safety management 2. Safer roads and mobility 3. Safer vehicles 4. Safer road users 5. Post crash response

3 Effective interventions in traditional areas ( evidence based interventions ) Human behaviour (legislation + enforcement) Speed, alcohol, seat belts and safety helmets Driver education, schools, mass-media campaigns Infrastructure: planning, black spots, safe designs, Safe vehicles, crashworthiness, inspection, special attention for trucks/buses and motorised two-wheelers Post-crash response Always new developments: such as drugs, mobile phones, ageing society

4 Go fishing where the fish are,. Go to your data and look for high risks, high proportions, high increases, etc. e.g. novice drivers, elderly road users, motorised two-wheelers, high-risk locations Although we know: If road crashes can occur, they will occur

5 Friday 25th of May, 10.00, rural road, frontal collision, 3 fatalities in 2 cars Rural road, one carriageway, special center markings, Speed limit 80 km/h

6 Peru, Pasamayo, Devil s curve : bus crash, 51 people killed, 3 January 2018 Peruano : Buses banned on "Devil's Curve" after dozens killed in crash

7 Go fishing where the fish are, and. Look for high risks, high proportions, high increases e.g. novice drivers, elderly road users, motorized two-wheelers, high-risk locations Road crashes can occur and will occur everywhere We are/were (relatively) successful in fishing where the fishes are

8 Go fishing where the fish are, but. Look for high risks, high proportions, high increases e.g. novice drivers, elderly road users, motorized two-wheelers, high-risk locations Road crashes can occur and will occur everywhere We were (relatively) successful in fishing where the fishes are But, fishes are more and more everywhere: meaning that a traditional approach comes to the end of its life cycle The answer is another approach: Safe System

9 Moreover.. we face fundamental road safety problems Today s road traffic is inherently unsafe The road system of today has not been designed with safety in mind, as is the case with air transport or rail transport Which means we are almost fully dependent on whether a road user makes a mistake or error in preventing a crash Kinetic energy levels in road crashes today will often injure humans Another approach is needed: Safe System Approach

10 Safe System approach A vision A set of principles A set of tools

11 Safe System approach characteristics (OECD/ITF, 2008 and 2016) Crashes will occur and road users will remain fallible, notwithstanding prevention efforts Road safety is a shared responsibility of road users and system designers and operators: don t blame the victim Road safety decisions should be aligned with broader transportation decisions It shapes interventions to meet ambitious long term goals, rather than relying on traditional interventions

12 Road safety vision = a product of underlying community values No one should be killed or seriously injured in road crashes: e.g. Vision Zero, Towards Zero Protecting vulnerable road users, such as children Limit disadvantages due to actions by other road users Mobility should be maximised within the limits of safe operations

13 Safe System ( Sustainable Safety ) principles in the Netherlands (I) Ethical We don t want to hand over a traffic system to the next generation with current casualty levels, but considerably less: Towards zero A proactive approach There is no need to wait for crashes before to act; we have enough knowledge to be applied; adapt knowledge to local conditions Man as the measure of all things Human capacities and limitations are the guiding factors (physically and psychologically)

14 Safe System ( Sustainable Safety ) in the Netherlands (II) An integrated/holistic approach Integrate man, vehicle and road into a safe system Covers the whole network, all vehicles, all road users Align with other policy areas: infrastructure, planning, health, etc. Shared responsibility between system and users Reducing latent errors (system gaps) of the system Which means we will not be fully dependent on whether a road user makes a mistake or an error in preventing a crash Use criterion of preventable injuries If we know the causes, if we know how to cure, if interventions are cost-beneficial

15 Safe System approach is proactive System approach: prevention of latent errors (system gaps) based on the Swiss Cheese Model (Reason, 1997) Intervene as early in chain as possible Make unsafe actions less dependent from choices of individual road users Latent errors Unsafe actions System design Quality control Psychological precursors for unsafe actions Actions during traffic participation Defence mechanisms CRASH

16 Safe System approach is proactive System approach: prevention of latent errors (system gaps) based on the Swiss Cheese Model (Reason, 1997) Intervene as early in chain as possible Make unsafe actions less dependent from choices of individual Latent road users errors Unsafe actions System design Quality control Psychological precursors for unsafe actions Actions during traffic participation Defence mechanisms

17 Safe System tools: implemented differently in different countries; design your own tools The Netherlands, e.g. rural traffic calming Sweden, e.g road Australia, e.g. speed management

18 Man as the measure of all things 1. The road system should be designed to expect and accomodate human error, because it is inevitable that road users make mistakes and sometimes violate the law (and crashes occur) 2. In a crash, interaction between vehicle roadway human body must be managed so that serious injury likelihood is minimized, if not eliminated (based on limited physical crash tolerance)

19 Children as the measure of all things From fully accompanying children to fully unaccompanying children/adolescents From walking/cycling/playing in a close by, well-known and easy environment to further away, unknown and complex environment From not knowing, not being able to not willing, trying to experiment, trying to impress

20 Insufficient visual and cognitive capabilities of children to participate safely in modern traffic Some traffic tasks Scanning other traffic timely Detecting (un)safe street crossings Focussing on specific tasks Placing information in context Coordinating observation and action Feeling responsible Children s performance 50% of 4-14years do that inadequate < 9years: not capable Better, when child grows older <7years poor; boys act impulsively No info <14years: only in case of a disaster

21 Safe System approach to get less children killed and injured in crashes As passenger in motor vehicles As passenger on a motorcycle As pedestrian As cyclists

22 Accompanied to and from school (NL): walking, cycling, as passenger in a car 4 5 years 95% 6 8 years 82% 9 11 years 52%

23 Towards Zero by building a Safe System for children: Three main lines Protect young children by reducing exposure to risk Make public transport attractive for children and prevent transport on motorised two-wheelers Engineer a safe environment Child restraint systems (< 12y): towards 100% Area wide traffic calming (< 30 km/h): massively Sidewalks, cycle tracks + safe crossings

24 Engineer a safe environment for children based on Safe System principles A safe road environment (please, listen to my contribution in a Session on Speed management) Safer vehicles: safer car fronts (collisions with pedestrians and cyclists) safer trucks and buses (blind spot problem) child restraint seats

25 Transport of children in motor vehicles Usage rates of child restraints (CRS) in high-income countries tend to be high: >90% Usage rates in Latin America relatively low (ITF, 2017) Brazil 57%, Argentina 47%, Uruguay 28%,Mexico 12%, oher countries lower Effectiveness high: 50-80% (forward and rearward) Lower effectiveness with side impacts Make CRS usage a top priority in LAC (90% in 2020) Campaigns to raise awareness + support purchasing CRS

26 To conclude Safe System approach is the way forward in road safety. Design your own version of this approach If implemented well, this approach will also make it considerably safer for children Implementation is a matter of many small steps in the right direction Evaluate and learn from your steps

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