Vision Zero Guiding-star for safer transports

Transcription

1 Vision Zero Guiding-star for safer transports Paper written by Ms Helena Höök, Swedish Road Administration and Ms Susanne Kallman, Swedish Rail Administration, to be presented on 18th Annual International Railway Safety Conference, Denver, Colorado, October 5-10, 2008 Introduction Vision Zero is conceived from the ethical base that it can never be acceptable that people are killed or seriously injured when moving within the transport system. System designers are responsible for the design, operation and the use of the transport system and are thereby responsible for the level of safety within the entire system. On the basis of Vision Zero the Swedish Road Administration developed the OLA working approach in The Swedish Rail Administration took the first steps to cooperation among key players and The Swedish Road Administration provided the OLA working approach. Level Crossing OLA resulted in action plans from all participating key players. The results also provides unique collaboration and measures that one key player alone wouldn t be able implement. The Swedish Road Administrations regions conducts dialogue projects in order to find out the problems experienced by local residents and develop site-specific solutions for level crossings on the private road network. Another step towards Vision Zero has been taken by Volvo Cars. The Swedish carmaker, now owned by Ford, is the first to set a target date for the elimination of death and injury in a new Volvo the year This is putting demands on both themselves as a carmaker and on the key players to cooperate to make the cars and the road environment compatible and to develop the safe road transport system. Vision Zero Vision Zero is conceived from the ethical base that it can never be acceptable that people are killed or seriously injured when moving within the transport system. Cooperation between key players is essential when working towards Vision Zero. Every key player s contribution to improve safety in the transport system is needed. Tools to cooperate systematic does the work easier. For many years the emphasis in traffic safety work has been in trying to encourage the road users to respond in an appropriate way, typically through licensing, testing, education, training and publicity to the many demands of a man-made and, increasingly, complex traffic system. Traditionally the responsibility for safety has been placed on the user rather than on the designers of the system. The Vision Zero was passed in the Swedish Parliament 1997 and was the start of an entirely new way of thinking regards traffic safety. The system designer was given the primary responsibility for the safety in the transport system. Vision Zero has also been assumed in other countries throughout the world. Page 1 of 10

2 The long term goal is that no-one will be killed or seriously injured within the Swedish transport system. Vision Zero accepts that preventing all accidents is unrealistic. The aim is to manage them so they do not cause serious health impairments. The long term objective is to achieve a transport system which allows human error but without it leading to serious injury. The keystone for Vision Zero is to emphasise on how the entire system can operate safely rather than the ability of the individual user. System designer has primary responsibility System designers (e.g. road and rail administration, vehicle manufacturer, police, interest organisations) are responsible for the design, operation and the use of the transport system and are thereby responsible for the level of safety within the entire system. Users are responsible for following the rules for using the transport system set by the system designers. If the users fail to comply with these rules due to lack of knowledge, acceptance or ability, the system designers are required to take the necessary further steps to counteract people being killed or injured. Strategic principles The transport system has to adapt to take better account of the needs, mistakes and vulnerabilities of users. The level of violence that the human body can tolerate without being killed or seriously injured forms the basic parameter in the design of the transport system. Vehicle speed is the most important regulating factor for safe road traffic. It should be determined by the technical standard of both roads and vehicle so the level of violence that the human body can tolerate doesn t exceed. In rail traffic it is necessary to provide a safe system and reducing risk because accidents often have catastrophic implications. The most important factor is technical solutions eliminating human errors carried out by personnel in the rail traffic system. Level crossings are interface between two infrastructures, rail and road. Accidents that occur in level crossing are mainly fatal and the strategy is to prevent them. Page 2 of 10

3 Visualizing Vision Zero Figure 1. The first picture illustrates how we normally consider a level crossing. The crossing has half-barrier protection and rather good visibility. We are used to the situation, and are having a feeling of being safe. The lights starts blinking red, the barrier goes down, all the traffic lines up, stops and are waiting for the train. The train comes and passes the level crossing. The lights stop blinking, the barrier goes up and the traffic starts again. Page 3 of 10

4 Figure 2. The second picture illustrates how a level crossing can affect road users and cause injuries or fatalities. The first thought might be that the road user is speeding or is not alert enough to pay attention and therefore is responsible for the implications. But blaming the victim is not acceptable with the vision zero approach. The question is instead: What can the system designer do to prevent this unwanted situation? There are several solutions you can think of as installation of technical protection systems, reducing speed with cameras or speed-bumps, visibility improvements or education. Page 4 of 10

5 Figure 3. The third picture illustrates how a level crossing can affect rail users cause injuries or fatalities. The first thought might be that the road user shouldn t have chosen this road because of the type of vehicle. However the same question as before is justified: What can the system designer do to prevent this unwanted situation? Witch leads to other questions: Did lorry driver s employer give the driver a reasonable chance to plan the route? Has the rail infrastructure manager caused an obstacle for the trailer by changing the track position without contacting the road infrastructure manager? This makes it clear that system designers need to cooperate in order to improve safety in level crossings. How to do it systematically? One way is to use the OLA working method where key players meet and, from a basis of facts, focus on solutions to solve the common problems and finally announce addressed action plans. Page 5 of 10

6 The work towards Vision Zero, three examples: 1. OLA - a working method practised on Level Crossings On the basis of Vision Zero the Swedish Road Administration developed the OLA working approach in OLA is an acronym for Objective data, List of solutions and Addressed action plans. The working approach involves system designers to work together to provide solutions to a common problem. With this approach, all key players are offered an opportunity to present desired measures they are able to implement and as a result to contribute to improved traffic safety. Two severe accidents in 2004 and 2005 brought focus on the dangers of level crossings. Swedish Rail Administration took the first steps to cooperation among key players. Swedish Road Administration provided the OLA working approach. The decision that Swedish Rail Administration and Swedish Road Administration should pursue Level Crossing OLA together was made in the spring of Eight organizations took part in the collaboration: Association of Swedish Train Operators Bombardier Transportation National Federation of Private Road Associations Stockholm Transport Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions Swedish Association of Road Haulage Companies Swedish Rail Administration Swedish Road Administration O - Objective data In the first phase, facts are presented and discussed. The facts can for example be: Official statistics In-depth studies of fatal road accidents and other accident statistics Facts and knowledge from other key players By studying the chain of events point by point, system designers can together offer an idea of why the accident became fatal. Some issues include: Is the road and rail environment suitably designed? Was appropriate safety equipment used? What was the cause of death? In Level Crossing OLA the Objective data consisted of information about level crossings in Sweden and Level crossing accidents statistics from road and rail administrations. There are approximately 10,000 level crossings in Sweden. About 3,000 of them have some kind of signalling equipment. Swedish Rail Administration is responsible for 8,000 level crossings. Of these, 2,200 have barriers and 700 some kind of light and/or audible signal. All installations are automatically operated by the movements of trains. The number of grade separated intersections is nearly 3,000. Every year some one hundred crossings are closed. At this rate, level crossings will remain a reality for many years. Page 6 of 10

7 Plankorsningsolyckor - Banverket Level Crossing Accidents - Swedish Rail Administration Olyckor - Accidents Figure 4. Level Crossing Accidents in Sweden Döda - Fatalities Olyckor (5-årsmedelvärde) - Olyckor (5-year average) Döda 5-årsmedelvärde - Fatalities (5-year average) A study of in-depth studies of fatal level crossing accidents shows that seven of ten people were killed in accidents on the private road network and that more than five of ten people were killed at level crossings without road protection installations. 11% 2% 19% 68% Private State Municipal Unknown Figure 5. Road manager. Level crossing accidents Page 7 of 10

8 4% 6% 4% 17% Light and sound signals No protection 15% Light and sound signals and barriers Light signal 54% Other (stop sign, pedestrian maze) Unknown Figure 6. Protection Installations. Level crossing accidents L - List of solutions/actions In the second phase system designers present and discuss proposals and ideas for solutions - both in short and long term. Measures can be both large and small. It is important that discussions are forward looking and focus on finding opportunities for improvement. The discussion should mainly concentrate on what each system designer can do, either individually or together with another system designer. A - Addressed action plans The third phase concerns what concrete measures system designers can initiate to improve safety. A declaration of intent is a description of what, when and to what extent measures will be implemented along with the aim of each measure. Level Crossing OLA resulted in action plans from all participating key players. Announcement When the action plans from participating system designers are signed by the director-general or CEO the result of the OLA-project goes public. The OLA is also documented and published on a website, The result and addressed action plans from Level Crossing OLA were presented at the Swedish National Rail administration s annual safety conference in March Follow-up meetings System designers are responsible for implementing and following-up their own action plans. A year after the announcement the first of three follow-up meeting takes place in purpose to share information about accident trends and implementation of the action plans. Page 8 of 10

9 2. Dialogue projects The Swedish Road Administration regions conducts dialogue projects in order to find out the problems experienced by local residents and develop site-specific solutions for level crossings on the private road network. The National Federation of Private Road Associations is taking part in the dialogue projects to learn what road users experience as problems and subsequently find solutions for these. The findings will be compiled in a report and sent to the Swedish Rail Administration and the National Federation of Private Road Associations during The work so far is all about finding cost effective solutions on minor problems for a specific site. For example to clean up level crossings, make visibility improvements by cutting down trees and bushes. The work is also focuses on working methods for cooperation between land owners, road users Swedish Road Administration and Swedish Rail Administration. 3. Volvo Cars first to set a target date Another step towards Vision Zero has been taken by Volvo Cars. The Swedish carmaker, now owned by Ford, is the first to set a target date for the elimination of death and injury in a new Volvo the year This is putting demands on both themselves as a carmaker and on the key players to cooperate to make the cars and the road environment compatible and to develop the safe road transport system. The safety team at Volvo intend to base further development on the safety philosophy characterising the company since Intensified action is taken to realize the vision to support drivers to handle an increasingly complex traffic environment. The researchers develop further the established safety concepts of Volvo Cars - from deformation zones and safety cages, over air-bags and safety belts to systems for dynamic stability control and driver support. Coming steps will be a new strategy to enhance Volvo's traditional strategy to protect and save lives. "I think if you look into the future, we as a community will not accept that we have injuries," said Jan Ivarsson, leader of the Volvo safety team with specialists in everything from biomechanics to engineering to behavioural science. Mr Claes Tingvall, who is a force behind the Swedish government's own plan to stop traffic deaths through better infrastructure, doubts Volvo's target is fully achievable but said even a tenfold reduction in injury rates would yield dramatic benefits. Page 9 of 10

10 References Swedish Road Administration, Safe traffic - Vision Zero on the move, aspx, (2006) Swedish Road Administration, It must not happen again, aspx, (2007) Swedish Road Administration, Website about Level Crossing OLA, aspx, ( ) Contacts: Ms Helena Höök, Quality coordinator, Strategist road traffic safety Swedish Road Administration Society, Operations management SE BORLÄNGE SWEDEN Phone: +46 (0) Mobile: + 46 (0) helena.hook@vv.se website: Ms Susanne Kallman, Senior Safety Strategist Swedish Rail Administration Director General s Office, Safety, Environment and Technology SE BORLÄNGE SWEDEN Phone: +46(0) Mobile: +46(0) susanne.kallman@banverket.se website: Page 10 of 10