UK Counties adpot The Safe System

25 September 2020

In UK the South West Peninsula Road Safety Partnership  is a adopting a Safe System approach an has set out the ‘bold’ ambition to achieve a highway system free of fatalities and serious injuries by 2040.

The South West Peninsula Road Safety Partnership is a strategic and operational collaboration of organisations, committed to working with people and communities, to reduce the number and severity of personal injury collisions - particularly those resulting in death or serious injury, across the road network of Devon and Cornwall.

The partners believe that no one should be killed or seriously injured as a consequence of using our road network and that we have a moral duty to work together to preserve life, prevent harm and make our communities safer. And recognise that no single agency can achieve road safety improvements in isolation and that a strong partnership, working together with our communities, based on a Safe System approach is key to achieving our vision and strategic aims.

Partnership principles  

• We will collaborate with each other and co-ordinate use of resources;
• We will maximise opportunities to invest in road safety;
• We will engage with and involve our communities and stakeholders in delivering our aims;
• We will be evidence led and explore innovative solutions.
• The shared vision is for the road network of Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly to be free from death and serious injury.’

This vision should not be regarded as a short or medium term casualty reduction target but reflects our aspirations for the long term and a shared view that death and serious injury should not be an acceptable consequence of using our road network.

The Strategy and delivery plan will be based on a Safe System methodology which has at its centre the following principles:

• Even the most conscientious person will make a mistake at some point;
• People are vulnerable and there are physical limits to what the human body can tolerate;
• Responsibility for reducing danger is shared by everyone;
• All parts of the system must be strengthened in combination to multiply their effects, so that people are still protected if one part of the system fails.

The partnership is led by  Alison Hernandez, police and crime commissioner for Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, who said: 

“We recognise that radical change is required to make this happen. This requires agencies to work alongside communities to find sustainable solutions.

“The way to progress is to renew efforts which encourage better driving practices, educate specific road user groups about the potential dangers, develop better responses to road traffic collisions and, critically, engage the public in being part of the solution.”