This informal document, transmitted by Sweden, outlines the Safe System approach. The document suggest ways to modify the 1968 Conventions on Road Traffic and on Road Signs and Signals as well as the Consolidated Resolutions on Road Traffic and on Road Signs and Signals to reflect this approach a greater extent. The development of road safety is undergoing major changes now and most certainly in the next ten years. The global community has reacted strongly on the predictions of the impact of poor safety and the growth of road traffic, on the society and the health of the population. It has been estimated that death trough a traffic accident will become the third or fourth most common source of death within 10-20 years, unless major and effective actions are taken. The UN has declared 2011-2020 as “the Decade of Action” asking for contributions from all countries and stakeholders to diminish a world epidemic of road casualties that not only impact on health but also on economy and economic growth in particular in low and middle income countries. The concern is related to safety, but the overall aim of the future is to develop a sustainable transport system where safety, environment, energy and accessibility are integrated. Such integration is complex and system design necessary as a tool to find synergies and limitations. Current traffic safety approach in large parts of the world is “Vision Zero” or “Safe System”, two expressions of an identical policy. Recently, in the white paper on transport “roadmap to a single European transport area –Towards a competitive and resource efficient transport system “- the European Commission has adopted Vision Zero, with the target that by 2050, the number of fatalities due to road traffic crashes should be close to zero. Also the guiding principles underlying the global Plan for the Decade of Action are those included in the "safe system" approach. The forthcoming ISO 39001 management standard for traffic safety specifies that the standard is only relevant for organizations that wish to eliminate death or serious injury in road traffic crashes. OECD has recommended that the Safe System approach should be used to manage traffic safety (OECD/ITF-report: “Towards Zero: Ambitious Road Safety Targets and the Safe System Approach”). In the private sector, Volvo Cars has set a target of zero deaths and serious injury in or by a Volvo 2020. Other car manufacturers have expressed zero as their vision, but not specified when this is supposed to be fulfilled. All these examples have one thing in common, except from explicitly aiming for elimination of death as a result of road traffic crashes, and that is the system’s perspective. Hence it is a challenge of utmost importance for UNECE WP.1 to adopt the Safe System approach in its work with the purpose to make the Vienna Convention and the Consolidated Resolution on Road Traffic (R.E.1) to a greater extent reflect this approach. (Author/publisher)
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