Safety on highways is a major concern for many international players because many lives are lost and property damaged due to accidents. As an effort to curb the issue with road safety, the project vision zero was established. For the purpose of this article, the abbreviation VZ will be used. VZ is a road traffic safety project that is participated in by several nations. The aim is to achieve a highway system in which there are no serious injuries or fatalities as a result of road traffic.
There are many principles that govern various aspects of the project such as construction of highway systems. These principles are responsibility, safety, mechanisms for change, and ethics. The principle of ethics gives human safety priority over all other objectives in road traffic systems like mobility.
The emphasis of the responsibility principle is shared responsibility between providers and regulators of road traffic systems. Under safety principle, consideration must be given to human fallibility to keep chances for error low. In case errors occur, their impact must be lowest. The emphasis for the mechanism for change principle is importance for change to achieve the goals of the project.
As part of the strategy to attain the goals stipulated by the project, limiting of speeds has been suggested in certain areas. Human and vehicular limits are based on to reach the suggested speed limits. For instance, if a person is knocked by a car, they can perfectly withstand the impact if the car is well designed and is moving a speed of less than 30 km/h. Safety of the individual will also still be ensured in frontal and side impacts at speeds less than 70 km/h and 50 km/h, only if the design of the vehicles is good.
In cases where vehicles need to move fast in urban areas, the suggested solution is separation of vehicular and pedestrian traffic. Otherwise, all movement by vehicles in urban areas should be constrained to speeds less than 30 km/h. The initiative suggests that drivers can move at speeds in excess of 100 km/h if roads are designed to prevent any form of frontal or side impacts.
There are several ways of ensuring that roads lack any possibility of side or frontal impacts. The first method is by constructing crash barriers to separate traffic in different directions from each other. Another way is by prohibiting slower of more vulnerable road users from using sections of roads where only high-speed vehicles are allowed to move. Additional methods are to ensure limited access and to use grade separation.
The adoption of VZ has varied a lot among countries. Whereas some countries have adopted the initiative on all their roads, some have limited the adoption to specific roads or areas. For instance, Canada first adopted the initiative in Edmonton City in 2015 before other cities followed suit later.
Developed states have experienced the impact of the project to the highest level. Fatalities due to traffic accidents have been reduced significantly. However, poor countries have adopted the initiative rather non-uniformly and there has been a continuous increase in traffic fatalities. The project is quite promising and the achievement of zero fatalities is a goal that can be achieved on a global scale.
There are many principles that govern various aspects of the project such as construction of highway systems. These principles are responsibility, safety, mechanisms for change, and ethics. The principle of ethics gives human safety priority over all other objectives in road traffic systems like mobility.
The emphasis of the responsibility principle is shared responsibility between providers and regulators of road traffic systems. Under safety principle, consideration must be given to human fallibility to keep chances for error low. In case errors occur, their impact must be lowest. The emphasis for the mechanism for change principle is importance for change to achieve the goals of the project.
As part of the strategy to attain the goals stipulated by the project, limiting of speeds has been suggested in certain areas. Human and vehicular limits are based on to reach the suggested speed limits. For instance, if a person is knocked by a car, they can perfectly withstand the impact if the car is well designed and is moving a speed of less than 30 km/h. Safety of the individual will also still be ensured in frontal and side impacts at speeds less than 70 km/h and 50 km/h, only if the design of the vehicles is good.
In cases where vehicles need to move fast in urban areas, the suggested solution is separation of vehicular and pedestrian traffic. Otherwise, all movement by vehicles in urban areas should be constrained to speeds less than 30 km/h. The initiative suggests that drivers can move at speeds in excess of 100 km/h if roads are designed to prevent any form of frontal or side impacts.
There are several ways of ensuring that roads lack any possibility of side or frontal impacts. The first method is by constructing crash barriers to separate traffic in different directions from each other. Another way is by prohibiting slower of more vulnerable road users from using sections of roads where only high-speed vehicles are allowed to move. Additional methods are to ensure limited access and to use grade separation.
The adoption of VZ has varied a lot among countries. Whereas some countries have adopted the initiative on all their roads, some have limited the adoption to specific roads or areas. For instance, Canada first adopted the initiative in Edmonton City in 2015 before other cities followed suit later.
Developed states have experienced the impact of the project to the highest level. Fatalities due to traffic accidents have been reduced significantly. However, poor countries have adopted the initiative rather non-uniformly and there has been a continuous increase in traffic fatalities. The project is quite promising and the achievement of zero fatalities is a goal that can be achieved on a global scale.
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