Our roadways were designed to move motor vehicles safely and efficiently. They often do not fully meet the needs of pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcyclists-our vulnerable road users (VRUs). As a result, we are seeing increasing dangers to this population and too many crashes involving vehicles and VRUs.
We must use a Safe System approach to better protect VRUs and ensure safe roads for all. A Safe System addresses all aspects of traffic safety: road users, vehicles, speeds, roads and postcrash care. We must make better safety investments, from road treatments, vehicle design, and collision-avoidance systems to strong traffic safety laws and robust education efforts to mitigate injury risks for all road users.
Unlike motor vehicles, VRUs lack an external structure to proect them when crashes occur and they're more likely to suffer a serious injury or even death. Proven, effective countermeasures are being underused at the federal, state, and local levels to protect pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcyclists. We have long been concerned with the threat to VRUs. In 2018 and 2019, we published three reports on the risks to this vulnerable population and issued more than 30 new recommendations focused on reducing VRU traffic deaths.
From 2021 to 2022, NTSB Board members held a serious of virtual roundtables addressing each element of the Safe System approach. Find link to the recordings below.
A Safe System July 7, 2021
Safe Speeds: July 21, 2021
Safe Roads October 7, 2021
Safe Vehicles September 9, 2021
Post Crash Care February 17, 2022
Pedestrian Safety Oct 5, 2021
Safe Road Users November 10, 2021
Open Recommendations that Represent Critical Safety Priorities
H-19-35 to USDOT, Intelligent Transportation System Joint Program Office: In collaboration with NHTSA and the FHA, expand vehicle-to-pedestrian research efforts to ensure that bicyclists and other vulnerable road users will be incorporated into the safe deployment of connected vehicle systems.
H-19-37 to NHTSA: In collaboration with the Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office and the FHA, expand vehicle-to-pedestrian research efforts to ensure that bicyclists and other vulnerable road users will be incorporated into the safe deployment of connected vehicle systems.
H-19-41 to FHWA: Include separated bike lanes and intersection safety treatments on the list of Proven Safety Countermeasures.
H-19-42 to FHWA: Include separated bike lanes and intersection safety treatments in the Every Day Counts program.
H-19-43 to FHWA: In collaboration with the Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office and the NHTSA, expand vehicle-to-pedestrian research efforts to ensure that bicyclists and other vulnerable road users will be incorporated into the safe deployment of connected vehicle systems.
H-19-46 to American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials: Include geometric design guidance materials on separated bike lanes, intersection treatments, and the transition between them in the next revision of the Guide for the Development of Bicycle Facilities.
H-18-31 to NHTSA: Work with the Federal Highway Administration to incorporate motorcycles in the development of performance standards for connected vehicle-to-infrastructure systems.
H-18-37 to FHWA: Work with the NHTSA to incorporate motorcycles in the development of performance standards for connected vehicle-to-infrastructure systems.
H-17-28 to FHWA: Revise Section 2B.13 of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices to, at a minimum, incorporate the safe system approach for urban roads to strengthen protection for vulnerable road users.
H-14-1 to NHTSA: Require that newly manufactured truck-tractors with gross vehicle weight ratings over 26,000 pounds be equipped with visibility enhancement systems to improve the ability of drivers of tractor-trailers to detect passenger vehicles and vulnerable road users, including pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists.
H-13-11 to NHTSA: Develop performance standards for visibility enhancement systems to compensate for blind spots in order to improve the ability of drivers of single-unit trucks with gross vehicle weight ratings over 10,000 pounds to detect vulnerable road users, including pedestrians and cyclists, in their travel paths.
Updated Oct. 10, 2024
