The Safe System approach aims to change the transportation system design and operation to anticipate human mistakes and minimize impact forces to reduce crash severity and save lives. Traditional road safety approaches strive to modify human behavior and prevent all crashes, the Safe System approach aims to eliminate fatal & serious injuries for all road users. It does so through a holistic view of the road system and shared responsibility.
This approach has six core principles that form a safety culture:
Death/Serious Injury is Unacceptable
Humans Make Mistakes
Humans are Vulnerable
Responsibility is shared
Safety is Proactive
Redundancy is Crucial
The Safe System Approach considers five elements of a safe transportation system including:
Safe Road Users
Safe Vehicles
Safe Speeds
Safe Roads
Post-Crash Care
The FHWA has prepared a two page brochure summarizing the Safe System approach: https://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/zerodeaths/docs/FHWA_SafeSystem_Brochure_V9_508_200717.pdf
Other sources of information to the Safe System Approach include: https://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/zerodeaths/zero_deaths_vision.cfm