Sweden’s Vision Zero campaign, adopted in 1997, seeks to eliminate roadway deaths and serious injuries

A May 13, 2014 New York Times article is entitled: A Safety Plan With Swedish Logic and City Smarts.

The opening paragraphs read:

• STOCKHOLM — The quest to eradicate serious crashes here began with a happy accident.

• In 1967, looking to conform to the roadway patterns of its European neighbors, the Swedish government converted its street traffic from left-hand to right-hand driving.

• To the bafflement of transportation planners, fatality rates immediately plummeted. Was it driver vigilance? The low speed limits imposed at first to ease the change? The broad public awareness campaign?

• The stewards of what are now considered the world’s safest roads have spent nearly a half-century trying to figure it out.

• “That was the first time we realized what clever measures could mean for traffic safety,” said Jan Söderström, a fledgling traffic engineer at the time. “It’s not really any advanced science.”

[End of excerpt]