Many jurisdictions world wide have adopted the Vision Zero or Safe System approach to roads. … [+]
Cities world wide have proven that the goal of zero road deaths is achievable.
A interactive world mapupdated and republished earlier this month by DEKRAa Germany-based company that conducts vehicle testing, inspections and crash research, shows 1,273 cities in 26 countries which have achieved the goal of zero road deaths inside at the least one 12 months. Some cities even did so over several years.
The variety of fatalities from road accidents has declined barely worldwide lately, but there are still greater than two deaths per minute, or over 3,200 per day, and road accidents remain the leading explanation for death amongst children and adolescents aged 5 to 29, in accordance with the “Global Road Safety Status Report 2023”, published in December by the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations’ leading road safety agency. The report found that Road accidents remain an urgent global health crisis.
In the USA, for instance, the death rate is seven times higher than in Sweden, Switzerland and Great Britain.
To combat the issue, many jurisdictions world wide have VisionZero or Safe System approach to traffic safety and design, which takes human error under consideration and was first implemented in Sweden within the Nineties.
The aim of the initiative is to eliminate all road deaths and serious injuries by creating multiple layers of protection. If one layer fails, the others will form a security net to mitigate the consequences of an accident. The improvements are expected to lead to safer people, safer roads, safer vehicles, safer speeds and higher post-accident care.
“Aiming for ‘Vision Zero’ is the only right strategy – because every traffic fatality is one too many,” said Jann Fehlauer, Executive Vice President of the DEKRA Group, in a press release. “More than 1,200 cities prove that ‘Vision Zero’ is achievable. Efforts to achieve the goal in many more cities and also outside the urban context must be continued at all levels.”
Even amongst large cities with greater than 100,000 inhabitants, almost 300 have already achieved the “Vision Zero” goal in at the least one 12 months. One of the most important cities on the list is Espoo in Finland with greater than 300,000 inhabitants.
The security group presented the primary version of the interactive online world map “Vision Zero” ten years ago in 2014 on the International Transport Forumin Leipzig. Experts from Dekra have evaluated the available data from the International Traffic Safety Data and Analysis Group (IRTAD) on a big scale – with a deal with inner-city traffic, initially for the 2014 road safety report. At that point, a whole bunch of cities with greater than 50,000 inhabitants had already achieved the goal of zero traffic fatalities in at the least one 12 months since 2009.
Since then, each the information evaluation and the web portal have been constantly expanded, say the researchers. Initially, 17 European countries were represented, today there are 26 countries. The focus remains to be on Europe, however the USA, Canada, Mexico, Australia and Japan are also represented.
To view the interactive map, click Here.
