Using the Safe System Approach to Reduce Fatal and Serious Injury Crashes
Beth Wemple, Jay Aber and Olivia Polinsky-Rose Share Meaningful Steps To Save Lives with Planetizen
The number of road deaths continue to fall in the U.S. following the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. There is still plenty of work to be done, however, to get to the goal of zero road deaths that transportation agencies and leaders are working toward. Now, more than ever, communities and transportation agencies are focused on road safety and the delivery of proven safety measures to protect all road users, often aligned with the Safe System Approach.
HDR’s Beth Wemple, Jay Aber and Olivia Polinsky-Rose provided insight on the Safe System Approach to Planetizen, which shares urban planning news and thought leadership. The three shared small but impactful steps that those working on transportation systems can take to deliver on the SSA during the planning and development of road infrastructure to reduce deadly and serious injury accidents on roads. Wemple is a senior transportation safety engineer, Aber, a senior traffic engineer, and Polinsky-Rose, a traffic engineer. Together, they have more than 60 years of transportation engineering experience.
In the article, the three explain the importance of proactively considering safety throughout the life cycle of transportation infrastructure project, initial steps to begin making difference and bold ideas to end all road deaths in the transportation system.
“While the task of improving road safety may seem overwhelming, incremental changes add up to create a noticeable and life-saving impact on the transportation network,” they wrote.
The SSA and delivering on its focus of zero road deaths requires different thinking, different priorities and different decisions. It’s no small task for agencies and practitioners to make effective changes, but there are steps that can be taken to begin making a meaningful difference.
Read the entire article, “Save Lives on Our Roads Using the Safe System Approach,” at Planetizen.
