The Safe System Approach has been adopted by federal, state, regional agencies, and the City of Fremont as an effective way to address and mitigate the risks inherent in a large and complex transportation system.  It works by building and reinforcing multiple layers of protection to both prevent crashes from happening in the first place and minimize the harm caused to road users involved when crashes do occur.  It is a holistic and comprehensive approach that provides a guiding framework to make public roadways safer for all road users.

The Safe Systems Approach is refinement to the Vision Zero traffic safety policy first adopted by the Fremont City Council in 2015.  At its core, the Safe Systems Approach recognizes both human mistakes and human vulnerability, and it aims to design a system with multiple layers of redundancies to eliminate crashes that result in death and serious injuries.

Principles of the Safe System Approach

The Safe System Approach incorporates the following key principles:

• Death and Serious Injuries are Unacceptable - The Safe System Approach recognizes that roadway crashes will inevitably occur but prioritizes the elimination of crashes that result in death and serious injuries.
• Road Users Make Mistakes - The Safe System Approach recognizes that road users will inevitably make mistakes and will make decisions that can lead or contribute to crashes, but the transportation system can be designed and operated to accommodate certain types and levels of human mistakes while preventing death and serious injuries when a crash does occur.
• Humans Are Vulnerable - The Safe System Approach recognizes that the human body has physical limits for tolerating crash energy before death or serious injury occurs.  As such, it is critical to design and operate a transportation system that is human-centric and accommodates physical human vulnerabilities.  Managing and reducing crash energy on the human body is a key objective in the Safe System Approach.
• Responsibility is Shared - The Safe System Approach recognizes that preventing roadway fatalities and serious injuries require involvement and awareness of all roadway users and stakeholders, including but not limited to drivers, bicyclists, pedestrians, the general public as a whole, advocates, and government staff and officials at all levels and departments.  
• Safety is Proactive - The Safe System Approach emphasizes that proactive tools should be used to identify and address safety issues in the transportation system, rather than waiting for crashes to occur and reacting afterwards.
• Redundancy is Crucial - Centered around five safety objectives (see below), the Safe System Approach focuses on building and reinforcing multiple layers of safety strategies to both prevent crashes from happening in the first place and minimize the harm caused to road users involved when crashes do occur.  Reducing risks requires that all five safety strategies be considered and strengthened in the management of the roadway network.  In the event of a crash, if one part of the safety system fails, other parts of the system remain to prevent roadway fatalities and serious injuries.  

Key Components of a Safe System

Implementation of the Safe Systems Approach centers around five complementary components to create multiple layers of redundancy to improve overall roadway safety and reduce potential for roadway fatality and serious injuries:

• Safe Road Users - Implement programs to encourage safe and responsible behavior by all road users (e.g. drivers, bicyclists, and pedestrians) and create conditions that prioritize road user’s ability to reach their destination unharmed.
• Safe Roads - Design the roadway environments and operate the transportation network to mitigate road user mistakes and account for tolerances for injury to the human body, to encourage safer user behaviors, and to facilitate safe travel by the most vulnerable users.
• Safe Speeds - Promote safer traffic speeds along various roadway environments through a combination of thoughtful, strategic, and context-appropriate roadway design, traffic calming strategies, targeted education, and enforcement.
• Safe Vehicles - Expand, support, and promote the availability and effectiveness of vehicle systems and features that help to prevent crashes and minimize the impact of crashes for both vehicle occupants and road users outside of the vehicle.
• Post-Crash Care - Enhance the survivability of crashes for road users by planning and implementing systems or procedures to expedite crash victim access to emergency medical care, while creating a safe working environment at the crash site for vital first responders and preventing secondary crashes through traffic incident management strategies.

The City’s Safe System “recipe” is consistent with the national Safe Systems Approach, comprising of the same Safe Road Users, Safe Roads, Safe Speeds, Safe Vehicles, and Post Crash Care components.  Below is a summary of the various City transportation programs and project types that work together to help build the various safety layers to reduce fatal and severe injury crashes for all road users while still facilitating efficient traffic flow across its roadway network. 

Safe Road Users         

• Traffic Safety Education – Funded by California Office of Traffic Safety grants, the City’s Police Department regularly prepares and posts Traffic Safety Knowledge and Tips throughout the year, covering key topics like car seat safety, back to school safety, motorcycle safety, driver safety, bicycle safety, pedestrian safety, and high beam safety.  Also an expanded program for youth driver’s safety education will be provided in 2026.
• Safe Routes to School Program - Educate K-12 students and parents about safe walking and biking behaviors, importance of safety helmets, proper bike maintenance, as well as safe drop-off/pickup procedures around schools for driving parents. Program also includes implementation of school crossing safety improvements.
  
• Travel Training for Seniors – In addition to providing curb to curb and wheelchair accessible travel services for Seniors and People with Disabilities, the City’s Human Services Department provides crucial travel training to teach seniors residents and people with disabilities how to use public transit. The City also posts on its website information about traffic control and road safety features that are commonly seen in the City to inform and educate senior residents about how to safely navigate and interact with other road users along City roadways and at intersections.

Safe Roads

• Complete Street Projects - Implement roadway designs that maximizes separation of vulnerable road users (e.g. pedestrians and bicyclists) with high speed vehicle traffic, balance the needs and travel efficiency for all road users, improved visibility between drivers and crossing vehicles, pedestrians, and bicyclists, as well as reduce overall confusion for road users across all ages and abilities, ultimately resulting in less potential for serious/fatal crashes.
• Pedestrian Crossing Enhancement Program - Implement safety improvements to improve visibility to pedestrian crossings across high traffic/speed roadways, including flashing beacons, pedestrian leading signal phasing, refuge median islands, curb ramps, high visibility crosswalks, and safety lighting.
• Citywide LED Street Light Program – The City continues to upgrade, install, and maintain LED street lights along major arterial corridors, within residential neighborhoods, as well as in public spaces to increase overall visibility and safety at night and in poor weather conditions.
• ADA Improvement Program - Continue installation of new ADA curb ramps, upgrade of existing non-standard ramps, and implementation of other ADA roadway features to improve access and safety for wheelchair and visually impaired road users.
• Roadway Maintenance Programs - On-going maintenance of city roadways, traffic signals, sidewalk tripping hazard repair at priority locations, and bikeway maintenance to maintain usability of the City's roadway infrastructure.
• Safety Enhancements along State Highways and Freeway Interchanges – The City works regularly with California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to implement safety improvements along Caltrans operated State Routes (e.g. SR 238, SR 262) and freeway interchanges. Most of the State Highways and freeway interchanges in the City were designed and constructed in the 1960s and 1970s, during which there was a general application of freeway standards for the design and construction of State operated roadways in the City that are not freeways, resulting in high traffic speeds, long pedestrian crossing distances, and increased potential for more severe crashes. Many of these state operated facilities are major barriers for bicyclists and pedestrians, as well as physical dividers between adjacent communities.
• Safety Enhancements at Rail Crossings – The City works with Union Pacific Rail Road (UPRR), Altamont Commuter Express (ACE), and other stakeholders to implement safety improvements at various rail crossings in the City. Once implemented, many of these safety improvements also facilitate the formal establishment of “quiet zones” at various rail crossings, allowing approaching trains to not having to sound their warning horns and reduce noise impact to surrounding neighborhoods.

Safe Speeds

• Traffic Speed Enforcement – The City Police Department actively prioritizes patrols, monitoring, and traffic speed enforcement along high-speed arterial corridors, roadways where excessive speeding is an on-going issue, and within school zones. The City also works at the County, Regional, and State level to advocate for the approval and adoption of automated speed enforcement.  
• Signal Coordination Program - Implement coordinated signal timing along arterial corridors to minimize number of red lights experienced when traveling at safer speeds. When high quality signal coordination timing is deployed in combination with other roadway safety design features, city roadways can have a natural, self-regulating traffic calming effect for drivers, reduce severity of any crash that does occur, all while greatly reducing corridor travel time for motorists.

Safe Vehicles

• National Vehicle Design Standards- Federal vehicle design standards, set by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, improve safety by requiring automakers to build protection into vehicles before crashes ever happen.  Instead of relying only on driver behavior, they engineer safety directly into the car.  Past efforts have included mandatory airbags and seatbelt systems in all new cars and trucks.  Modern standards increasingly require or promote technologies that help drivers avoid crashes.
• Choosing a Safer Vehicle- Individuals can help improve safety for themselves and others by considering optional safety design features, like pedestrian detection and automatic crash avoidance, when they purchase a vehicle.  The National Safety Council provides information to help understand and use new technologies, including the “My car does what?” website and videos.

Post Crash Care

• Advanced Emergency Vehicle Preemption System - The City implemented new advanced "system-wide" emergency vehicle preemption (EVP) system along major arterial corridors to allow emergency vehicles to "preempt" traffic signals along an entire response route, giving traffic and crossing pedestrians more time to clear an intersection in advance of emergency vehicle arrival. The new EVP system resulted in faster, more reliable response time for the Fremont Fire Department while improving road user safety along emergency response routes.
  
  
• Local Trauma Center – In 2024, Washington Hospital in Downtown Fremont was officially designated as a Level II Trauma Center, thus allowing receipt and treatment of patients who have sustained traumatic, life-threatening injuries. The local trauma center presence significantly reduces the transport distance and time for first responders to get crash victims to the needed medical care, which has a direct benefit in improving overall survival rate for crash victims. Previously, severely injured crash victims needed to be transported to East San Jose, Castro Valley, or Palo Alto along frequently congested freeway corridors for treatment.

The City of Fremont closely analyzes traffic crash data to identify trends and key issues for focused attention.  The table below provides a summary and categorizes the 87 fatal traffic crashes that have occurred for the 12-year period from 2014 through 2025.  A decade ago, the top two “root cause” issues were: 1) Reckless Driving, and 2) Street Design.  Now the top two issues are: 1) Reckless Driving and 2) Unsafe Walking/Biking at Night (primarily by unhoused persons).

More Details on Traffic Fatalities

For more information on Fremont traffic safety data and trends visit this supplemental webpage which has a discussion of “root causes”, categorizes traffic fatalities by travel mode, and includes traffic fatality narratives by year of occurrence.  

Since the initial adoption of its Vision Zero policy in Fall 2015, the City has completed safety related projects to improve road user safety.  Below is a summary of the various improvements completed in the past ten years.