Safer Journeys action plan - introduction

This page sets out the purpose of the Safer Journeys action plan and the Safe System approach.

The government released Safer Journeys: New Zealand’s Road Safety Strategy 2010–2020 in March 2010.

The strategy has a vision: 'A safe road system increasingly free of death and serious injury' and covers the period 2010–2020.

Safer Journeys addresses road crashes which is one of the six priority areas of the New Zealand Injury Prevention Strategy (NZIPS). The first actions to implement the Safer Journeys strategy occurred in 2010. This action plan is for 2011–2012 and outlines the actions that we need to advance over the next 2 years to help us achieve Safer Journeys’ objectives. This plan is also intended to help other stakeholders and the public to take their own actions to improve the safety of our roads.

The National Road Safety Committee (NRSC) members have responsibility for delivering on this action plan. These members are:

• Ministry of Transport (MoT)
• NZ Transport Agency (NZTA)
• New Zealand Police (Police)
• Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC)
• Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ)

Associate members of the NRSC are: the Department of Labour (DoL), and the Ministries of Education (MoE), Health (MoH) and Justice (MoJ). These members have important supporting roles in implementing this plan. Regional and local safety partners, such as regional transport committees and local authorities, also play a significant role in implementing this plan (these entities are referred to as local government in the actions for 2011-2012).

Safer Journeys and the Safe System approach

Safer Journeys recognised that a Safe System approach to road safety was needed if New Zealand was to make real progress in reducing the number of road deaths and serious injuries.

The Safe System approach acknowledges that even responsible people sometimes make mistakes when travelling on the roads. This is a change from traditional approaches that tended to blame the road user for causing a crash.

Given that mistakes are inevitable, we need the system to protect people from death or serious injury. To do this the Safe System has objectives to:

• make roads more accommodating of human error
• manage the forces that injure people in a crash to a level the human body can tolerate without serious injury
• minimise the level of unsafe road user behaviour

The Safe System approach views the road transport system holistically by addressing the interaction between the road user, the road and roadside, speed, and the vehicle.

It is the responsibility of all those involved with the design, management and use of the road system to understand this interaction.

This means working across all elements of the road system to move towards the following.

• Safe roads and roadsides — that are predictable and forgiving of mistakes. Their design encourages safe travel speeds.
  
• Safe speeds — that suit the function and level of safety of the road. People drive to the nature of the road and the conditions and they understand and comply with the speed limits.
  
• Safe vehicles — that prevent crashes and protect road users, including pedestrians and cyclists, in the event of a crash.
  
• Safe road use — by road users who are skilled and competent, alert and unimpaired. They comply with road rules, take steps to improve safety, and demand and expect safety improvements.