Safe System and Active Mobility

Poor road safety (whether perceived or actual) is one of the main barriers that prevents people from using active modes of transport, such as walking or cycling, on a regular basis. When looking at the relationship between active mobility and road safety, road users are more eager to shift to, or maintain the use of, active travel modes if the wider mobility context is objectively safer, resulting in a greater subjective feeling of road safety. Only roads where people can securely hop on their bikes and walk safely down the street will convince more and more users to embrace active modes of transport, creating a virtuous circle.

There is a direct link between the Safe System approach to road safety and sustainable, active mobility. Most road crashes and their consequences are not an inevitable cost of growth or mobility. They do not take place in isolation. The dynamics on streets, roads, and highways are part of a wider system: they are generated by the interrelationship between components such as institutions, laws, regulations, land use, infrastructure, vehicles, and road users, among others. When implemented effectively these system inputs interact to create roads and cities that are safe for their citizens.

The overall aim of this course is to provide road and mobility engineers, designers, planners, decision-makers and advocates with both theoretical knowledge and practical instruments needed to work on road safety issues in the context of their own location, focusing on active mobility. The course aims to give a robust introduction to the safe system approach, its relevance for developing strategies that promote active mobility and perspectives on the application of the approach. 

This course is supported by The Netherlands’ Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management as part of the Global Capacity Building program, the Global Road Safety Partnership, the Dutch Cycling Embassy, and the FIA Foundation.