TODD LITMAN ON RETHINKING TRANSPORTATION SAFETY

"Truly optimal traffic safety policies require changing the way we think about, evaluate and implement traffic safety. Transportation policies that stimulate increased driving are likely to increase traffic risk, while mobility management strategies that reduce total vehicle travel and encourage shifts to alternative modes are likely to increase traffic safety. The new paradigm greatly expands the range of traffic safety strategies, including improvements to alternative modes, pricing reforms, and smart growth land use policies. It also requires considering co-benefits, since mobility management strategies can also help solve other problems, such as traffic and parking congestion, pollution emissions, excessive consumer costs, inadequate mobility for non-drivers, and inadequate public fitness and health..."

According to a Nov. 19th Planetizen article by Todd Litman, executive director of the Victoria (BC) Transport Policy Institute, "A paradigm shift is changing the way we think about transportation safety. In the past, traffic safety experts evaluated risk using distance-based units (traffic crashes and casualties per 100 million vehicle-miles or billion vehicle-kilometers), which ignores increases in vehicle traffic as a risk factor, and mobility management as a safety strategy. Yet, we now have overwhelming evidence that the amount people drive has a major impact on their chance of being injured or killed in a traffic accident.

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