VISION ZERO REQUIRES FIVE STAR ROAD SAFETY SYSTEM

Vision Zero is aimed at zero fatality or serious injury on our roads. It is a bold concept and presents a challenge to planners, engineers, managers and policy makers. The ramifications of this philosophy are far reaching. It questions the very basis of the traditional economic evaluation methods and the transportation system objectives. Conventional trade-off between safety, mobility, and economics is no longer an option in Vision Zero. All subsystems in road safety must be stretched to their limits of capabilities and beyond. This entails vivid changes in attitude, spectacular advances in technology as well as massive investments. The implications of Vision Zero for road system infrastructure are explored in this study. A concept of prescribing a rating to the road infrastructure is advanced and a framework for determining the rating is proposed. It is postulated that vision zero requires a ?five-star? road infrastructure.