Globally, over 1 million road traffic deaths occur each year.
The world has an average road death rate of 17.4 per 100,000 people and Sweden has 2.8; there are various reasons for such good road safety.
Reason 1: A dedicated focus by the government.
Between 1950 and 1965, the road deaths doubled in Sweden, mostly because Sweden had left-hand drive cars and they were driven on the left side of the road; this positioned the driver away from the centre of the road, and overtaking became dangerous.
On 3rd September 1967, the government decided to switch from left-side-of-the-road driving to right-side-of-the-road driving.
The traffic infrastructure was revamped and 360,000 road signs were changed in one day.
Reason 2: Vision Zero. The number of road deaths has come down by 80% since 1970, while the number of cars and miles driven has doubled.
Because of the success of the government initiatives in 1967, road safety began to be seen as one of the top priorities and Sweden built a Vision Zero >> to have ZERO car accidents by 2020.
While the Vision Zero target couldn’t be achieved and the target date has been revised to 2050, the focus is very much there.
Reason 3: It is very difficult to become a driver in Sweden.
The road tests are far rigorous than many other developed countries and it can cost more than US$1,800 to learn to drive in Sweden.
Reason 4: 2+1 Lane Roads.
Roads with bad safety record (around 1500 kms) now have 2+1 lane roads.
2+1 road is a specific category of three-lane road, consisting of two lanes in one direction and one lane in the other, alternating every few kilometres, and separated with a steel cable barrier; therefore, sides take turn for overtaking.
So, Traffic going from A to B will have two lanes for 10 kms and traffic from B to A will have one lane; after 10 kms A to B traffic will have one lane and traffic B to A will have two.
Reason 5: Other initiatives such as strict policing (less than 0.25% drivers test positive in alcohol test), low urban zone speed limits, pedestrian zones, barriers between cars and cyclists etc.
