Under the Safe System Approach, responsibility for roadway fatalities shifts from individual road users to system designers.
At this week’s annual meeting of the Governors’ Highway Safety Association, the keynote speaker was Jennifer Homendy, confirmed by the Senate in August 2021 as the new head of the National Transportation Safety Board (“NTSB”). The new NTSB chair’s national stage debut targeted the escalating rise in fatal traffic accidents in the United States, urging the implementation of the “Safe System” approach to roadway safety.
“The carnage on our roads has to stop. You know it, and I know it. That’s why we need to do one more big, important thing: zero traffic deaths. Some people say that is impossible.
“I’m here to tell you it is possible…. I’m calling on all transportation leaders from roadway designers to public health officials up to the governor, from vehicle manufacturers to transportation providers, from entire communities to safety advocates to embrace a new way, a new approach, a new vision for traffic safety — the ‘safe system’ approach.”
For more on the shocking increase in the danger of a fatal motor vehicle accident facing motorists and pedestrians in Indiana, Illinois, and the rest of the nation, read:
- Illinois’ NSC Warns: Escalating Number of Fatal Motor Vehicle Accidents
- How Deadly are the Roads of Chicago, Illinois? Unacceptably High Risk of Traffic Deaths in the Windy City.
What is the Safe System Approach to Roadway Safety?
The Toward Zero Foundation explains that the “Safe System” approach considers the causes of motor vehicle accident deaths and roadway fatalities in a new way, explaining the “key differences between the traditional and Safe System approaches” as:
- The Safe System views the problem as “fatalities and serious injuries,” while the Traditional viewpoint is that the problem is the motor vehicle accident itself;
- While the Traditional perspective is that the cause of the problem is the human factor (errors, mistakes), the Safe System takes the position that “people are fragile,” and that “people make mistakes”;
- The Safe System considers the ultimate responsibility for traffic fatalities and serious motor vehicle accident injuries to be with “system designers,” while the Traditional stance is that individuals using the roadways (drivers, truckers, motorcyclists, etc.) are those who are responsible for the accident victim’s harm; and
- While the Traditional approach is to set a goal to reach the optimum number of fatalities and serious roadway injuries, the Safe System perspective is that the goal should be “zero fatalities and serious injuries.”
The National Safety Council explained the Safe System Approach back in July 2020 as “safer roads, safer speeds, safer vehicles, safer users and effective post-crash care,” pointing to the example given by Sweden, which implemented a Safe System approach in 1997. This includes implementing the following steps as a “starting point” (quoting the NSC):
- Separating users in space. Creating separate spaces for different users creates physical separation enhancing safety, such as separated bike lanes, pedestrian refuge islands or clear zones.
- Separating users in time. Separating users in time allows different users to use the same space at different times, such as a pedestrian scramble phase.
- Increasing Attentiveness and Awareness. Alert users to potential hazards and/or the presence of other users, including increasing visibility, attentiveness and reducing impairment.
- Reduce Speeds. The laws of physics dictate that greater harm will occur at high speed, and the greater the mass of a vehicle the more harm it will inflict on others. Reducing speed in the presence of vulnerable road users is a key Safe System strategy. In urban areas, this strategy starts with reassessing speed limits and moving toward the use of context-specific target speeds in lieu of the 85th percentile speed for speed limit setting. The use of traditional or automated enforcement is also a key tool to support lower speeds.
- Reduce Impact Forces. Traditionally, this is accomplished by protecting the user inside a vehicle by improving the crashworthiness, use of restraint systems and air bags. Similarly, road infrastructure is being designed to reduce impact forces, such as the use of guardrails, crash cushions, roundabouts and turn hardening.
Justice for Motor Vehicle Accident Victims in Indiana and Illinois
Here in the “Crossroads of America,” our roadways bring greater risks of a fatal or serious bodily injury in a roadway accident than face those in other parts of the country. The danger of a semi-truck crash is particularly high in Indiana and Illinois. For more, read:
- Danger of Fatal Semi-Truck Crashes in Indiana and Illinois and the 2021 Infrastructure Bill
- Labor Day 2021: Danger of Fatal Impaired Driving Crashes in Indiana and Illinois
- Fatal Truck Driver Crashes: Record-Breaking Trucker Fatalities According to New Studies.
Advocates for accident victims and their loved ones understand the great and imperative need to address the rising statistical trend in deadly roadway accidents in Illinois, Indiana, and the United States. These tragedies are particularly heart-wrenching when the cause of the accident is identified as drunk driving, drowsy driving, speeding, or failing to wear a safety belt. See:
- Factors in Drunk Driving Fatal Car Crashes in Indiana and Illinois
- Drowsy Driving and the Risk of Fatal Traffic Accidents in Indiana and Illinois
- Speeding Causes Almost Half of All Fatal Car Crashes in Illinois (Around 25% in Indiana)
- Road Safety Rankings for Illinois and Indiana: the Danger of a Fatal Crash in Our Part of the Country.
The Safe System approach, as described above, seeks to transition the responsibility for these accidents from the individuals involved to the “system designers,” which brings a different focus within the victim’s legal claims regarding the legal duties that have been breached and thereby form the basis of a claim for damages.
The state laws of Indiana and Illinois provide redress for those that have been harmed by the negligence of others, as well as providing justice through our wrongful death, workers’ compensation, product liability, and defective product laws.
These areas of state jurisprudence are longstanding. As the Safe System approach proceeds among federal and state governments and the transportation industry in this country, accident victims and their loved ones must be reassured that their accident injuries and corresponding legal claims for justice will be respected as this transition in governmental approach proceeds.
For more, read:
- Fatal Accidents and Wrongful Death Lawsuits in Indiana and Illinois
- Indiana Workers’ Compensation and Car Accidents On the Job
- Defective Car Parts: Liability for Fatal Crashes and Serious Injuries in Illinois and Indiana
- Trucking Companies Liable for Semi-Truck Crashes in Indiana and Illinois.
There is a shocking rise in the risk of a serious or deadly motor vehicle accident and roadway crash in Illinois and Indiana which has risen since the onset of the COVID Pandemic. Please be careful out there!
