Transport and Covid-19: responses and resources

Using Safety Performance Indicators to Improve Road Safety: The case of Korea


More than 1.3 million people die each year in road crashes, with millions more suffering life-altering injuries. The Safe System approach aims to eliminate deadly crashes through a comprehensive, shared-responsibility framework. This report offers guidelines for establishing safety performance indicators (SPIs) to assess the effectiveness of Safe System policies in reducing road fatalities and serious injuries. It identifies international best practices for constructing and deploying SPIs, focusing on the case of Korea.

This report is an output from a collaboration between the ITF and the Korea Transportation Safety Authority.

Policy Insights

  • Set safety targets. Ambitious road safety targets and concrete measures help to reduce the number of road fatalities and injuries quickly. Including meaningful performance indicators in road safety strategies is crucial to success.
  • Prioritise vulnerable people. Pedestrians, cyclists and the elderly are most vulnerable in road traffic. Prioritise their safety by using road safety performance indicators to pave the way for more inclusive, protective road environments and reduce the risk of road traffic causing tragedies.
  • Create a feedback loop. The insights gained from safety performance indicators must feed directly into improving road safety strategies. Creating a continuous feedback loop will make the strategies responsive to changes, measures more impactful and road traffic safer.

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