A New Traffic Safety Paradigm

Author(s): Todd Litman

Slidedeck Presentation:

CARSP_New Safety Paradigm_Litman_11Jun2018

Despite large traffic safety program investments, motor vehicle collisions continue to impose high costs. Crash casualty rates have ended their long-term decline and recently started to increase. New strategies are needed to achieve ambitious traffic safety targets such as Vision Zero. Recent research improves our understanding of transportation and land use factors that affect traffic risks, and therefore identifies additional traffic safety strategies. Applying this knowledge requires a paradigm shift. The new paradigm recognizes that all vehicle travel imposes risks, and so supports vehicle travel reduction strategies such as more multimodal planning, efficient transport pricing, Smart Growth development policies, and other Transportation Demand Management strategies. Many of these strategies provide significant co-benefits, in addition to safety. This presentation describes the new traffic safety paradigm and new strategies that can provide large benefits.