Systemic Road Safety Management

Road safety management is about how we deliver road safety in practice; how we bring all the system elements together to delivery a clear vision of the future, and maximise casualty reduction. If you are new to the Safe System, you may want to watch our introductory video first, before looking at this section in more detail.

For this manual, we have separated Systemic Road Safety Management into two parts: the first about thinking in a systemic way and the second around specific road safety management elements.

Thinking Systemically

This section starts by proving an introduction to the Safe System, its principles, components and the levers that can be used for delivery.

Following this, it looks at how to operate a Safe System, who is involved, their roles and the importance of building a professional safety culture.

There is then a lot of material on influencing culture, covering:

• Selling safety as a priority

• Advocacy and Leadership

• Institutional prioritisation

• Enabling environments for change

• Models, including the Individual Social and Material Framework and the Safe System Cultural Maturity Model

• Professional development

• Public relations and social marketing

• The importance of co-design and stakeholder involvement

The final part of this section looks more in-depth at the shared responsibility principles and some of the politics around safety. This includes the roles of statutory bodies and Non-Government actors as well as public perception and how to make the case for safety.

Road Safety Management

This section focuses on how to work strategically to deliver the Safe System. There are separate sections in the rest of the manual which focus on each component individually: Safe Roads & Roadsides, Safe Road Use, Safe Speeds, Safe Vehicles and Post-Crash Response. This section looks more strategically across the system, starting with road safety management capabilities and how to review and develop capacity.

This section then looks at appraisal and benefits realisation, how to frame policy and co-benefits and look beyond the value of prevention.

The focus then moves to the role of procurement and how this can be leveraged for safety benefits, including:

• Introducing a bias towards safety

• Business decision mechanisms

• Vehicle fleets

• Service contracts

• Standards for equipment

There is also a section on performance management which covers the types of safety data that can be used, how to analyse risk and danger and then using these to set targets and safety performance indicators.

The final part of this section looks at cross-sector engagement and specific sectors where potential strategic collaboration could be beneficial. These include:

• Transportation and logistics

• Supply and value chain operations

• Public health

• Micromobility

• Urban planning and development