How to Improve
Road Safety: Strategies for Cities and Urban Areas

Urban Road Safety

Definition and Risks

Over the past decade, the focus of crash fatalities has shifted markedly to cities. While rural areas once recorded higher rates, urban traffic deaths now outnumber those in rural areas - creating new challenges for city planners and transportation authorities.

The density and complexity of urban environments bring specific risks: In 2022, about 32% of all U.S. urban crash deaths occurred at intersections, compared with 16% in rural areas. More than 80% of pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities also happen in cities, underscoring the vulnerability of non-motorized road users. Speed is another decisive factor: roughly 29% of urban crash deaths involve speeding. Given these facts, the question is what urban road safety actually entails and which groups require special protection.

Urban road safety encompasses all measures that prevent or reduce crashes, injuries, and fatalities in city traffic. Particular attention must be paid to vulnerable road users like pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists, who account for a large share of fatalities in urban areas.

Data-Driven Safety Planning

Effective urban safety planning starts with the systematic collection and analysis of data. Cities need reliable information on crashes, mobility patterns, and risk factors to make informed decisions about infrastructure and policy.

A robust road-safety database should include:

• Crash locations and circumstances
• Injury severity data (incl. hospital records where available)
• Traffic volumes and mobility patterns
• Behavioral and enforcement data

By analyzing these datasets, cities can identify high-risk locations, understand crash patterns, and evaluate the impact of safety measures. Advanced tools, such as GIS mapping to visualize hotspots and predictive analytics to anticipate risks, are increasingly central to planning.

From data to safer streets: With PTV Visum Safety, cities can collect, integrate, and analyze crash, mobility, and behavioral data to pinpoint high-risk areas and assess countermeasures—forming the foundation of an effective, data-driven safety strategy.

Crucially, data analysis is not an end in itself. The insights directly inform design and retrofits—guiding how streets and intersections are adapted to improve safety for all road users.

Measures for Designing Safer Streets

Safe streets emerge when insights from road-safety data are turned into design decisions. This translates evidence-based strategies into built solutions and creates environments where people walking, cycling, riding motorcycles, driving, or using public transport can travel safely.

Below are some of the most effective tools and design strategies cities use worldwide to make streets safer for everyone:

Vision Zero and the Safe System Approach

Vision Zero originated in Sweden in the 1990s as a comprehensive road-safety strategy. Its core premise is clear: traffic deaths and serious injuries are preventable, not inevitable. The approach marks a shift from traditional methods by embracing a systems view - aligned with the Safe System approach - which accepts human error and relies on forgiving, redundant layers of protection.

Cities typically begin with a high-level political commitment, by leaders such as mayors, city councils, or city managers, and set concrete goals and timelines for eliminating traffic fatalities. Since 2014, the movement has gained significant momentum across the United States; by 2021, more than 50 communities had made formal commitments.

Safe System principles

The Safe System approach forms the foundation of successful Vision Zero implementation. This framework operates on six key principles: 

1. Death and serious injuries are unacceptable
2. Humans make mistakes
3. Humans are vulnerable
4. Responsibility is shared 
   (Traffic safety is not only the responsibility of individual road users, but also of system designers, such as: Urban planners, Road authorities, Vehicle manufacturers, Policymakers, Law enforcement)
5. Safety is proactive
6. Redundancy is crucial 
   (Traffic safety should not rely on a single measure. Multiple, overlapping safety layers are needed to prevent serious injuries or deaths when human errors occur)

The Safe System approach identifies five mutually reinforcing elements: safe road users, safe vehicles, safe speeds, safe roads, and post-crash care. These elements work together to create a transport system that anticipates human error and minimizes the consequences of mistakes. This is particularly critical in complex urban environments where diverse modes of transport intersect.

Successful implementation of Vision Zero on city-level

Several cities demonstrate Vision Zero's effectiveness through road safety data analysis and proactive interventions. Sweden has reduced severe injuries and deaths by half since implementation. New York City saw a 44% drop in pedestrian deaths and 27% decline in overall traffic fatalities since adopting Vision Zero in 2014. Jersey City achieved zero traffic deaths in 2022 through tactical interventions across six corridors. Edmonton reduced serious injuries by 17% and traffic deaths by 41% in just three years through comprehensive signage improvements and intersection redesigns.

Methods for proactive traffic safety management

Effective urban road safety doesn’t end with identifying risks - it’s about anticipating risks and preventing crashes before they happen. Today, cities are increasingly turning to smart tools and data-driven technologies to support this shift from reactive to proactive safety management. From infrastructure audits to real-time monitoring and predictive analytics, a new generation of solutions is helping urban planners make informed, timely, and targeted decisions.