The Safe System framework
This framework for the implementation of a Safe System was developed by an International Transport Forum Working Group based on a combination of scientific knowledge and practical experience. The purpose of the framework is to guide road safety professionals who are seeking to implement the Safe System approach with the aim of saving lives and preventing serious injuries from road crashes.
The framework links the six road safety pillars to the five key components of a Safe System. It is designed to cover all modes of road transport currently in use. To be practically and widely applicable, the framework addresses the current system with all its components, including inherently unsafe ones. For example, motorcycles are accepted as part of the system.
The Safe System framework is structured around three dimensions: five key components of the Safe System; six pillars of road safety; and three stages of development for Safe System interventions.
The framework produces a matrix of 26 cells, with three levels of development for each of the cells.
The five key components are:
- establish robust institutional governance,
- share responsibility,
- strengthen all pillars,
- prevent exposure to large forces, and
- support safe road user behaviour.
The six road safety pillars are:
- road-safety management systems,
- safe roads,
- safe vehicles,
- safe speeds,
- safe road-user behaviour,
- post-crash care systems.
The three stages for Safe System interventions are:
- Emerging: Awareness and knowledge of what a Safe System looks like exists. Interventions are carried out but not in a systematic way.
- Developing: Interventions and policies are linked. They are organised through robust institutional governance focused on road safety, transport, mobility and land-use development policies. Interventions are harmonised and systematic across the context where they are applied. Social norms for road safety are emerging.
- Mature: Highly sophisticated technical and public-policy interventions are implemented. The influence of non-transport policies on safety outcomes, including for land-use development and climate, are recognised and integrated in road safety policy. Mechanisms to ensure accountability are in place, with capacity to assess the quality and performance of the system.
Two further stages of development are not covered by the framework. In the "pre-emerging" stage, Safe System principles are hardly or not at all applied. There is little knowledge of the Safe System and hence little activity in the direction of Safe System implementation. Road safety professionals starting from a pre-emerging stage are invited to read the section How to start your Safe System journey.
The "perfect" stage is a hypothetical level of Safe System implementation where zero fatalities and serious injuries occur. "Vision Zero", the elimination of death and injury from road use, remains a work in progress, and a mature Safe System reflects current best practice. As experience builds along the trajectory towards Vision Zero, however, more advanced practices with the most mature approaches to making roads safe will develop.