Sweden awarded Global Innovation Award

18 February 2020

Sweden has been presented with a prestigious iRAP Global Innovation Award recognising the lifesaving safety impacts of its 2+1 with wire rope median road design. The design has dramatically reduced head-on collisions and halved fatality and serious injury rates rates in Sweden and many countries of the world.

The 2+1 design incorporates two lanes of traffic in one direction and one lane in the opposite direction; separated by a median safety barrier. The design significantly reduces the risk of head-on crashes and provides additional safe overtaking opportunities for motorists, particularly on higher speed roads.

The award was presented to Sweden’s Minister for Infrastructure Tomas Eneroth during the 2020 Innovation Workshop, an official side event of the 3rd Global Ministerial Conference for Road Safety.

EuroRAP Secretary General Lina Konstantinopoulou said, “Since its first development in 2006, the innovation has been seen to achieve a remarkable reduction in severe crashes on Swedish implementation. Furthermore, it’s been much-copied and is transforming safety in Spain, Ireland, New Zealand and Australia - saving thousands of lives.”

To see the case study please click here.