South Yorkshire Road Safety Partnership (SYSRP) is the latest organisation from across the world to pledge support for ‘Vision Zero’ – an international campaign to eliminate ALL death and serious injury from our roads.

The long-term aspiration relies on a shared responsibility for road safety and believes that ‘no human being should lose their life or be seriously injured as the result of a road traffic collision’.

Tom Finnegan-Smith, chair of SRP Board said: “Vision Zero is widely regarded as the most effective approach to saving lives on our roads.

“We want to be sure that as a Partnership we are doing everything we can to prevent the pain, grief and suffering caused by each and every road traffic collision.

“It’s a long-term ambition and will take a lot of hard work but any other target is simply unacceptable.”



Launched in Sweden in the 1990s, the Vision Zero approach states that death and serious injuries are preventable rather than inevitable on our roads.

In practice, road safety organisations adopt a ‘Safe System’ way of working - a system that accepts that humans make mistakes and are fragile when faced with the severe impact of a collision.

It is made up of five system themes: Safe Roads, Safe Road Users, Safe Vehicles, Safe Speeds and Post-Collision Care.

“The big difference with this approach is the acknowledgement that as humans we will make mistakes on the road,” said Mr Finnegan-Smith.

“The theory is that by having a robust system in place, if one part fails, the other elements will come together to prevent death or serious injury.

“Moving forward, all of the Partnership’s road safety interventions will fall under the five themes with partners working together toward agreed targets.”

South Yorkshire’s first step toward achieving Vision Zero – as well as greener, safer and more sustainable travel - is to halve KSIs (killed and serious injuries) by 2030.

Road safety teams across South Yorkshire will deliver data-led interventions to those identified as most at-risk of being involved in a collision.

“Our partners in the police, fire, local authorities and National Highways are committed to working together to manage, design and operate a safe road system,” added Mr Finnegan-Smith.

“We also need members of the public to play their part and adopt positive attitudes and behaviour as Safe Road Users.

“Vision Zero will only ever be possible if we all do our bit.”

Current Safe System projects include Community SpeedWatch, school and college visits, proactive police enforcement, education campaigns and casualty reduction road schemes.

For more information follow @SYSaferRoads on Facebook or Twitter.