Overview
Each year in the United Kingdom, around 1,600 people die and 30,000 more are seriously injured in road traffic collisions. Globally nearly 1.2 million people lose their lives due to road trauma each year, with young people aged 5-29 years being disproportionately impacted.
Road collisions should not be viewed as inevitable; action can be taken to reduce these human and societal tolls.
At PACTS, we believe in a future where no one is killed or seriously harmed on our roads. Our vision is a transport system free from death and life-changing injury, where all users feel safe.
We champion the internationally recognised Safe System – a proven, evidence-based framework built on the understanding that people are fallible, bodies are fragile, and serious harm is not an acceptable price for mobility. This means designing our transport system in ways that anticipate human error, accommodate human vulnerability, and uphold fairness by committing to the prevention of death and serious injury.
From this foundation, the Safe System also recognises that safety is a shared responsibility across all stakeholders, that action must be proactive rather than reactive, and that improvements need to be systemic – embedded across roads, vehicles, speeds, behaviour, and post-crash care.
What is the Safe System
The Safe System is an environment where people, vehicles and the road infrastructure interact in a way that secures a high level of safety.
It is based on six key principles:
These principles are then applied to five components:
Together, action across the whole system reduces the risk and severity of a collision and reduces the likelihood of death and life changing injuries if a collision does occur.
That action is required across the entirety of the Safe System and should be supported through various ‘mechanisms of change’:
The Safe System is often represented as a circle, bringing together the principles, components and mechanisms of change to demonstrate its characteristics of co-operation and interaction.
This approach is based on international best practice, including Sweden’s Vision Zero and the Netherlands’ Sustainable Safety model. It is endorsed by the UK Government and increasingly adopted worldwide.
The Safe System aligns road safety with other critical policy areas:
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- Public health (reducing injury, promoting active travel)
- Equity and social justice
- Climate goals (through sustainable transport)
- Occupational safety
It ensures that safety is built into the design of roads, vehicles, behaviours, and responses – not added as an afterthought. Delivering the Safe System means leaders acknowledging that change is needed and creating an enabling environment for the innovation of safety measures. This includes:
PACTS Engagement
PACTS is embedding the Safe System approach across UK policy and practice. We do this through research, events, policy development, and engagement with government, local authorities and industry.
| Date | Engagement | Details |
| October 2025 | All-Party Parliamentary Group for Transport Safety Delivering Road Harm Reduction for Communities | On 27 Oct 2025, PACTS’ President chaired the APPG for Transport Safety meeting, highlighting progress and priorities for implementing the Safe System to reduce road deaths and serious injuries across the UK. |
| April 2025 | Safe System Practitioner Network | In April 2025, PACTS partnered with Road Safety GB to launch the Safe System Practitioner Network, a collaborative hub that brings together local road safety partnerships, transport authorities, and other stakeholders to apply Safe System principles. The network supports the sharing of strategies, highlights good practice, and provides a forum to discuss challenges, helping drive meaningful improvements in road safety across the UK. |
| November 2024 | PACTS Autumn Conference [ONLINE]: Cultural Maturity in Transport Safety – PACTS | The PACTS Autumn Conference on 19 November 2024 focused on building cultural maturity in transport safety, exploring how the Safe System can be applied across road, rail, and other sectors to reduce risk and improve safety outcomes. |
| March 2022 | PACTS Conference – Safe System: from principles to practice | On 17 March 2022, PACTS held the online conference “Safe System: from principles to practice,” which brought together over 260 practitioners and experts to explore how to implement Safe System principles in UK policy and local delivery across roads and related networks. |
| May 2021 | APPG for Transport Safety AGM in 2021, contained presentations from Jessica Truong, Secretary General, Towards Zero Foundation and Saul Billingsley, General Secretary, FIA Foundation and Dr Nhan Tran, Coordinator, Safety and Mobility, WHO, UN The meeting minutes can be found here. | At the 19 October 2021 AGM of the APPG for Transport Safety, PACTS’ secretariat coordinated presentations by Jessica Truong (Secretary General, Towards Zero Foundation) and Saul Billingsley (General Secretary, FIA Foundation) on global safe‑mobility frameworks and the UK’s role in the Decade of Action for Road Safety. |
| July 2021 | DfT Road Safety Strategy – stakeholder consultation workshop – PACTS | On 21 July 2021, PACTS and the Department for Transport co‑hosted a stakeholder consultation workshop to inform the next UK road safety strategy, with focus on Safe System principles, emerging risks and the role of local authorities. |
| April 2017 | Safe System course | In April 2017, PACTS ran a two‑day Safe System course at Loughborough University Design School for professionals across sectors, aiming to build capability and understanding of system‑based approaches to road traffic injury prevention. |
PACTS Publications
| Date | Publication | Details |
| September 2025 | Towards a World Leading Road Harm Reduction Strategy | Published in September 2025, PACTS’ briefing “Towards a World‑Leading Road Harm Reduction Strategy” outlines how the UK can reclaim leadership in road safety by embracing the Safe System, strengthening cross‑government accountability and treating every death or serious injury as preventable. |
| August 2021 | Safe Roads for All | In August 2021, PACTS contributed to Safe Roads for All, a report by UK road safety and mobility experts calling on government to adopt a Safe and Healthy Mobility Strategy and Action Plan for roads. |
| October 2018 | Developing safe system road safety indicators for the UK | In 2018, PACTS published the report Developing Safe System Road Safety Indicators for the UK (in association with Ageas), proposing a tailored set of eight key performance indicators to support a Safe System‑based framework for monitoring and improving UK road safety. |
| May 2017 | UK Road Safety – Seizing the Opportunities | In May 2017, PACTS published UK Road Safety – Seizing the Opportunities, a project comprising three papers on safer road users, safer roads and safer vehicles, which identified how the UK could better embed Safe System principles and seize strategic opportunities to reduce casualties. |
PACTS Recommendations
We advocate for:
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Applying Safe System principles at all levels of government and strategy
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Setting ambitious, measurable targets for reducing deaths and serious injuries
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Investing in evidence-based interventions and infrastructure improvements
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Strengthening cross-sector collaboration between health, education, policing, and transport
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Enhancing data collection and using it to guide action
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More Information and Resources
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- Watch a quick, under-four-minute explanation of the key elements that make up a Safe System model: Agilysis: What is the Safe System?
- An earlier but insightful look at the Safe System in practice: Short film: Safe System in Practice (New Zealand)
- Detailed explanations of the Safe System segments with expert commentary: Safe System Knowledge Exchange – RoadSafe
- Understanding what Safe System implementation really looks like, putting the principles which this system is based into practice, is difficult. This blog by TRL’s Chief Scientist Shaun Helman suggests how things could be changed: The Unsafe System.pdf
- Two capital cities in Europe have achieved zero road fatalities. These factsheets explain how that has been done: Achieving Vision Zero – Helsinki and Achieving Vision Zero – Oslo
For further information, or to find out how your organisation can support or implement the Safe System, contact admin@pacts.org.uk.
