In the most basic sense transport is about movement and safety. The safe movement of people and goods.

Movement of people by driving or being driven, travelling by bus or train or tram, cycling and walking. 

There are seven whys of travel.

Seven Whys

Movement can be considered using the lens of the seven whys:

1 Connected: can I get to where I want to go?

2 Reliable: can I be confident in the time required to complete my journey?

3 Value: does it provides me value for my money and my time?

4 Safe: is my safety assured?

5 Clarity: can I readily find my way?

6 Service: am I a valued customer?

7 Informed: am I told what lies ahead, can I make travel choices?

We want our travel movement be efficient, getting us from point A to point B, whether commuting to work or getting to an education or recreation or shopping activity. 

We want it to be reliable in terms of being confident in the actual and expected travel times.

We want it to be of value, we want to know the way, we want to be treated as a valuable customer whichever mode we travel and we want to know in real time what is happening ahead.

That leaves safety – is my safety assured?

Safety

As transport professionals we need to be thinking about safety outcomes in all our projects – lets focus on road safety specifically.

Most people are drivers (even if its from the passenger seat!), and if we stop and think about it we consider ourselves as safety experts.

As a professional do you really know the fundamentals of road safety? You should. 

Safety should be a fundamental principle underlying every transport project you are involved in. It is our professional responsibility.

Basically the human body can only handle a specific level of trauma – best described in terms of transfer of energy. During a crash if the energy from a deceleration is greater than our bodies can handle we suffer serious injuries or death.

Understanding the fundamentals of road safety means we can design our projects to ensure that the risk of serious injury or fatality is eliminated or minimised.

This is an important skill for tomorrow’s professional.

Sweden legislated Vision Zero way back in 1997 – a philosophy of road safety that aims to achieve a transport system where no one will be killed or seriously injured within the road transport system. Check out the article. 

That should be your mantra as a transport professional.