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NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe Safe System approach to road safety

Explaining why Safe System is embedded in all NZTA curriculum resources for schools

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A new approach to saving lives and serious injuriesA more forgiving road system which

acknowledges human fallibility recognises our physical vulnerabilityreduces the price paid for human error

A change in our road safety culture affects what we do, how we do it and what our students learn at school

Explaining why Safe System is embedded in all NZTA curriculum resources for schools

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Responsibility for road safety is spread more widely than in the past

•Communities work together to strengthen the entire system

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Why the Safe System approach is better

Safe System approach -Strengthen entire system

The whole community including schools aim to prevent seriousinjury by taking human fallibility and vulnerability into account

A forgiving system will reduce serious injury when a crash occurs

World best-practice approach

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It is not only about the driver -

Traditional approach: Target driver non-compliance

Does not address crashes caused by simple errors

Targeting the driver doesn’t protect people when crashes occur

Even when the driver is at fault, death is too high a price to pay

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Four Safe System principles

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Principle 1 - Human fallibility

1.People make mistakes and crashes are inevitable

No one performs perfectly100% of the time

No one should pay for a mistake with their life or limb

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2.The human body has a limited ability to withstand crash forces

Principle 2 - Human vulnerability

Error may cause crashes, but injury or death is not an inevitable result. What happens depends on speed at the time of crash and what protection is provided

Even if speed doesn’t cause the crash, it affects crash severityIt’s all a matter of physics: ke = ½mv2

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Principle 3 - Shared responsibility

3. Responsibility for a safe roading network is shared by all members of the community

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Principle 4 - Whole of system

4.It will take a whole-of- system approach to implement the Safe System in New Zealand

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NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe Safe System approach to road safety