Vision Zero

Sweden´s long-term road safety goal is that there should be no fatalities or serious injuries in road traffic. This goal was approved by the Swedish Parliament in 1997 and is based on the "Vision Zero" programme. The first element of Vision Zero is the ethical approach to human life. In the vision, human life and health are paramount, and no long-term trade-off is allowed. The second element is the responsibility chain. The chain has three steps. The first step is that it is the providers, professional actors and professional users who are responsible for the safety of the system. The users have the responsibility to follow rules and regulations – the second step. The third and final step says that if the road users fail to follow rules and regulations, the responsibility falls back on the providers of the system. The third principle is about the safety philosophy: design and functionality should take human failure into account and the limiting factor for the design and function of the system is the biomechanical tolerance of humans in relation to a fatality or a serious health loss. The fourth element of Vision Zero is the driving mechanism for change. In the policy, it is stated that it is the legitimate right of the citizen to be able to use the road transport system in a safe way and that is the main driving force [53, 23].