A safety action plan is a strategic safety plan that will guide the City’s investments in transportation safety. The Salem Safe Streets for All Action Plan will identify safety concerns and crash risks on our streets and find solutions that we can use to make it safer for people to walk, bike, and drive in Salem.

What is Vision Zero?

The goal to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries is of ten referred to as “Vision Zero” – envisioning a future with zero deaths and serious injuries. More broadly, the term “Vision Zero” refers to a major shift in traffic safety that prioritizes the preservation of human life above all other transportation system objectives. Started in Sweden in the late 1990s, the Vision Zero philosophy has been adopted by hundreds of cities and regions around the world. At its core, Vision Zero acknowledges that traffic deaths and serious injuries are preventable and unacceptable, and that transportation systems must be designed to account for human error and vulnerability.

What is the Safe System Approach?

Zero is our goal. A Safe System is how we get there.

The Safe System Approach works by building and reinforcing multiple layers of protection to both prevent crashes from happening in the first place and minimize the harm caused to those involved when crashes do occur. This is a shift from a conventional safety approach because it focuses on both human mistakes -and- human vulnerability, creating a system with many layers of protection in place so that if one safety measure fails, there are more opportunities to keep people safe.

There are six principles and five elements of the Safe System Approach:

Six Principles

• Death and serious injury are unacceptable
• Humans make mistakes
• Humans are vulnerable
• Responsibility is shared
• Safety is proactive
• Redundancy is crucial

Five Elements

• Safer People
  • Encourage safe, responsible behavior by people who use our roads.
  • Create conditions that prioritize people's ability to reach their destination unharmed.
• Safer Roads
  • Design, maintain and operate roadways to help people make safe choices and reduce the impact of human mistakes.
• Safer Vehicles
  • Expand the availability of vehicle systems and features that help to prevent crashes and minimize the impact of crashes.
  • Improve access to safer modes of transportation, such as public transit.
• Safer Speeds
  • Promote safer speeds in all roadway environments.
• Post Crash Care
  • Make it easier and faster to access necessary emergency medical care.
  • Create a safe working environment for first responders.
  • Prevent secondary crashes by safely managing traffic.