George Verdes’ Post

Interesting article about how Europe successfully reduced road fatalities through the Vision Zero initiative. It's remarkable to see how a combination of innovative policies, infrastructure improvements, and a commitment to safety culture has led to such significant progress. Implementing a Vision Zero approach requires a holistic perspective, focusing not only on educating drivers and enforcing traffic laws, but also accepting that mistakes happen similar to the aviation industry. The results speak for themselves, with many European countries achieving remarkable reductions in road deaths. This article is a reminder of the power of collective action and innovation in tackling complex challenges. It's inspiring to see what can be achieved when governments, communities, and stakeholders come together with a shared vision of creating safer roads for everyone. #VisionZero #RoadSafety #Innovation https://lnkd.in/gsrB_CzK

I read today an interesting article "More than a million people die on roads every year. Meet the man determined to prevent them" https://lnkd.in/e6pCjHPY The "man" is Claes Tingvall, head of road safety for the Swedish Road Administration in 1995. He convinced authorities to promote a new approach to road safety - "Vision Zero", i.e. no-one is killed or seriously injured. That vision is of course not for tomorrow - "around 2050, maybe", says Tingvall. It was based on the idea that crash victims were not always drunk and irresponsible drivers, for the most part they were "people who made small mistakes within a system that had no margin for error." This was revolutionary to consider that changing driver behavior was not enough, and quite improbable anyway, and that the focus should be placed on "a network of roads that seemed to pose an inherent risk to people going about their everyday lives." Hence, the onus fell to transport planners, not drivers, to fix the situation. During the 1990s, I would like to remind, the European Commission developed the DRIVE programme (Dedicated Road Infrastructure for Vehicle Safety in Europe), 60 Mio ECU, Council Decision 1988/06/29. The people responsible at that time at EU-Commission's DG XIII (now DG CNECT) were the regretted visionary Roland HÜBER (Director) and his Head of Unit for DRIVE, Fotis KARAMITSOS. It was a time when 55,000 people died each year on the roads in the EU (12 countries then). DRIVE, and its fellow Eureka PROMETHEUS project, contributed a lot to change the pattern at the very time when Tingvall was struggling to steer and promote a new vision of road safety. I think my former DG XIII colleagues deserve our tributes and remembering.

An article that is worth reading. A lesson to learn when we are humble and assume that reality is as it is and not as we want it to be. A few pearls from the article: << Sweden, 1995. Uusmann, the minister for infrastructure, and Tingvall's political boss. At one point she turned to him and asked, simply: "How many deaths should we have as our long-term target in Sweden?" Tingvall replied: "Zero." To his surprise, Uusmann said she was interested and would like to hear more. This was the beginning of an approach to road safety known as "Vision Zero".>> <<(...) officials were no longer allowed to design roads for idealised drivers who never became distracted or exceeded the speed limit. They had to make roads for real people who made mistakes.>> <<The reality is that drivers do speed, and they get distracted by their phones or other passengers in the car. "Don't pretend that there are laws that you know everyone will follow," Tingvall says. "That's very unprofessional. You would never do that in aviation or in other areas where you really care for safety.">> <<(...) at the municipal level Vision Zero has been implemented in dozens of cities around the world, from #Barcelona to #Bogota. In 2011 it was adopted as part of the EU's road safety strategy>> https://lnkd.in/d2CXqZPU

In Human Factors, a systems view of errors suggests rather than seeking to apportion blame to individuals for incidents, that we should look at the systemic factors that contributed to them and seek to address those. Humans are fallible, and errors are an inevitable consequence. One key thing should be to mitigate the worst outcomes, and then to do that we need to identify all the places within the system where changes could make an impact. This article talks about "Vision Zero" that began in Sweden and is spreading to other places. The intent is to use the systems approach to errors to reduce traffic fatalities to zero. https://lnkd.in/gKBYX55c When I ask students in my class why US cities are installing roundabouts instead of stop signs, they are usually shocked to learn that this is not to reduce the traffic collisions (which is their hunch). In fact they may tend to increase the number of 'accidents', but many more of them are the "good kind" of collisions - with lower speeds and vehicles headed in mostly the same direction. Likewise road sign are being moved closer to the road once again (to increase the perception of speed, and thus avoid people driving faster) but made of breakable materials -- expecting that some people will hit them. That is the kind of approach being taken in Vision Zero.

DESIGNING FOR DRIVERS Whilst seatbelts, airbags and car seats for children have reduced the number of deaths on the roads, more than a million people worldwide still lose their lives each year. The focus after an accident tends to be on driver behaviour, interaction with other vehicles and the road conditions, to determine the cause. But the head of road safety in Sweden took a systems approach and began to look at the road infrastructure and the wider environment too. This is the topic of an interesting BBC report which goes into detail about how Sweden's road authority changed their approach, to work towards 'Vision Zero' - zero deaths on the roads. Their target was to take back responsibility for road safety from drivers, recognising that whilst the vast majority of drivers operate their vehicles within the law and with care and attention, sometimes they make mistakes or things go wrong - all within a system that has no room for error. The report says that "[Vision Zero] meant that officials were no longer allowed to design roads for idealised drivers who never became distracted or exceeded the speed limit. They had to make roads for real people who made mistakes." Many countries have now adopted the Vision Zero approach and road deaths are starting, in some areas, to decrease as a result. Urban design now includes some solutions that seem reasonably simple, like segregated cycle ways and reduced speed limits, but others seem counter-intuitive, like barriers in the centre of the road where there were none before. Read the full report on the BBC website at https://lnkd.in/dbvq9CyZ #humanfactors #design

First principles #thinking (https://lnkd.in/gzMmyDuY) applied to road safety by #Sweden in the 1990s, has made it a country with the lowest #road accident #fatalities today. Focusing safety of the entire road system and not just on cars and vehicles made this possible. Such thinking most often starts with individuals, like Claes Tingvall. Many interesting insights, read ahead. #roadsafety #roadaccidents #safety #life #cars #firstprinciples

This article is a must-read!⭐ It traces the development of road traffic, policies, and Vision Zero over the past 30 years, starting from a serious accident in Sweden in 1995. Kudos to BBC for their hard work in crafting this piece, and thanks to Pat Jones for sharing. Cars🚗 have long been relied upon for safe, fast, and comfortable travel from point A to point B. However, it's evident that cars alone cannot entirely solve the issue of travel safety—it's not a one-person battle.🗡 On the roads🚦 , there are not only cars but also other road users 🚴♀️ . Safety is ensured when different entities use the roads at different times and spaces. However, accidents occur when different entities share the same time and space on the road simultaneously🚧 . Avoiding accidents requires efficient coordination of time and space usage, but achieving this remains a challenge. The statement, "But from a very early point in the development of the motor car, the industry decided to focus the attention of lawmakers away from the inherent dangerousness of cars to the actions of the person behind the wheel," resonates deeply with me. Now, governments worldwide, especially in the UK and the US, are strengthening legislation on #autonomous driving vehicles to seize the lead in the technology and markets, neglecting the construction of road intelligence. Is this really in the best interest of road users' safety? When will the Vision Zero be realized, and how? It will require continuous efforts and let's keep pushing for safer roads together! #RoadSafety #VisionZero #Transportation #SmartMobility

Reality Check A mature approach will prevent sensationalism especially when considered against the expected proliferation of EVs. https://lnkd.in/gp77nNAy

Modern technology could offer more protection for you and your passengers.