The Safe System Approach – A Road Safety Strategy Based on Human Factors Principles

In most safety critical domains, safety has been improved through the application of contemporary human error models and management methods. But the common strategic approach to improve road safety has so far mainly been built on the view that individual road-users utterly are responsible when crashes occur and countermeasures have consequently been aimed at changing the behaviour of the road-user. This approach is however slowly shifting and there is a growing understanding that the strategies must be based on human factors principles. In this paper the human factors principles of the Safe System approach are outlined and important implications for the design and regulation of the road transport system will be presented. It is concluded that the Safe System approach share vital foundations with the human factors concept. But it is argued that the Safe System approach takes the human factors approach further by regarding the capability of the human body to withstand external influences with a potential to induce bodily harm.