A Vision Zero Approach for Road Safety

Vision Zero, an ethics-based transport safety approach, was developed in Sweden in the late 1990s. It places responsibility on the people who design and operate the transport system to provide a safe system. This is a transport system that is built for human beings, that acknowledges that people make mistakes and human bodies are vulnerable to high-impact forces in the event of a crash. To protect people from forces that can cause traumatic injury we need to look at how the whole system works together to protect all those who use our roads.

Image supplied by Auckland Transport Communications Team. Reference: Guide-for-Road-Safety-Interventions-Evidence-of-What-Works-and-What-Does- Not-Work, World Bank Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF), 2021.

One of Auckland Transport’s (AT) key priorities is to provide a safe, accessible, and resilient transport system that prioritises safety and human health.

Our Vision Zero goal for Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland is to have no one die or be seriously injured on our roads by 2050. We have committed to this goal because we believe that no one should die or be seriously injured for simply getting around Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.

Roads and streets bring people together – connecting Aucklanders and New Zealanders with each other, creating a sense of community, and promoting well-being and human health.

How we design our transport infrastructure, and how we set speed limits, plays a direct role in strengthening the connections between people and the places we share. We refuse to accept that some deaths or serious injuries are a price to be paid for our mobility and freedom.

AT and its Tāmaki Makaurau Transport Safety Governance Group partners are working together to ensure that we create a safe road system, where parents feel confident enough to let children walk or cycle to school, sports practice, or the local dairy, without having to reach for their car keys.

Auckland Transport takes a holistic approach to improving road safety by investing in improving the quality of our roads and working with partners and communities to improve driver behaviour. An important component of the Safe System is managing speed limits.

We know that most of the current speed limits in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland are no longer fit-for-purpose. This means that the speed limits are too fast for the current design, layout, and use of the roads.

We also know that no matter what causes a crash, vehicle speed directly affects both the likelihood of a crash as well as the force of impact and severity of outcome.

Image supplied by Auckland Transport Communications Team

As we work towards improving road safety in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, I invite you to partner with us as we work on making a speed management plan for Auckland that will go a long way in creating a safe road transport system for everyone to enjoy.

Please visit at.govt.nz/vision zero and at.govt.nz/speed to find out more about our road safety programmes.

Send us an email for any specific information you have: ATSpeedProgramme@at.govt.nz

The Safety Collective Tāmaki Makaurau has been engaged in the steering group for the Vision Zero strategy and also contributes to the safer speeds mahi.