VERMONT – A recent VTrans public service announcement said, when you get behind the wheel, you share Vermont roads with many different kinds of vulnerable road users, from motorcyclists and e-bikers, to farmers on tractors and drivers with disabilities.
Vulnerable road users are people at the highest risk for fatalities in traffic crashes. These road users are motorcyclists, pedestrians, cyclists and other non-occupants, which means they are outside a standard vehicle. These road users are subject to outdoor elements that may increase susceptibility to harmful events in traffic crashes.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System, (FARS), the proportion of U.S. traffic fatalities for vulnerable road users was 28 percent in 1980, and increased to 34 percent by 2019.
Vermont is working hard on our Safe Systems approach to roadway safety. A Safe System Approach means a roadway design that emphasizes minimizing the risk of injury or fatality to road users. It takes into consideration vulnerable road users and the possibility and likelihood of human error.
