The World Report on Traffic Injury Prevention that was published in 2004 drew attention to the urgent need for action to reduce road traffic injuries globally. Its key conclusion is that in order to achieve safer roads a "systems approach" is needed. This means that the road system should be designed to accommodate and compensate for human vulnerability and frailty. The systems approach requires an understanding of the system as a whole and the interaction between its elements, and the identification of priorities and potential for action.

An essential element of the safe systems approach is the development of a road safety management system that can deliver:
• Understanding of a country's road safety issues;
• Involvement of all stakeholders and the wider road user community;
• Comprehensive strategy with targets for casualty reduction;
• A programme of interventions to address identified problems;
• Reviews of performance;
• Capacity building and availability of funding.

An important step in the development of a systems approach to address the road safety problem in a country is the setting up of a lead agency to take responsibility for making roads safe. Key tasks will involve analysis of the casualty problem in terms of crash rates, road user types, locations, and contributory factors in order to establish priorities for action and development of a programme of interventions to deliver cost-effective casualty reductions.

This toolkit is designed to assist with the development of programmes of road safety measures within a prioritised action programme. It provides valuable information that will assist in the choice of effective ways to reduce road traffic injuries. Whilst it can be used on its own to select measures to address specific problems that have been identified, it is not a substitute for the more systematic approach to road safety management and casualty reduction that is recommended in the World Report. A forthcoming report from the OECD provides detailed guidance on the achievement of targeted casualty reductions using a systems approach.

This website is being continually developed. If you have any feedback, please email this to the development team (iraptoolkit@arrb.com.au)