Formulation of vision or philosophy

A safety vision is an innovative description of the future traffic system, or the desired direction of safety development [44]. Its purpose is to elevate road safety to a prominent and integral place in public policy and to motivate road users, politicians, road safety experts, policymakers and practitioners. It should be and be seen as:

• Understandable: provide a clear, easy to explain description of the future
• Desirable: appealing to different road user groups in the long term
• Feasible: realistic, achievable in the long term Guiding: useful in political decision-making.
• Motivating: all responsible agencies are ready to work for it
• Flexible: it should both stimulate initiatives and be adaptable to changing conditions

Experience in Europe indicates that complacency about death and injury in society can be shaken and sights raised by adopting a vision or philosophy for road safety which can relate to the general public [2]. Some countries, for example, Sweden and the Netherlands have enshrined national visions, policies and targets within legislation. The long-term and far-reaching Vision Zero strategy [5] being implemented in Sweden which combines ethics, biomechanics, environmental management and pragmatism in its approach. Vision Zero is presented as a long-term, ideal objective for a traffic system where the amount of biomechanical energy to which people can be exposed without sustaining serious injury is the basic design parameter. As with the Sustainable Safety Strategy being implemented in the Netherlands which has a similar approach, Parliamentary scrutiny and approval stimulated public debate and prepared the way for future successful work [57] Finland and Switzerland have recently adopted the Vision Zero strategy, and Switzerland with its Via Secura theme and the Safe System concept of the Australian State of Victoria’s are similar. These long-term strategies for a safer traffic system supplemented with casualty reduction targets require fundamental and wide-scale re-working of various aspects of the design and operation of the national traffic system, to achieve better interface between human, vehicle and road environment.