Urban safety management is a structured approach to road accident prevention and casualty reduction. It can help authorities to develop a safety strategy for each of their urban areas. USM requires that a coherent range of actions be taken in pursuit of the objectives identified in the strategy. USM involves adjusting the balance between safety, directness of access and ease of mobility on foot, by bicycle, by public transport, by private motor vehicle, and for delivery of goods. The means envisaged include redistribution of traffic and speed management.

These Guidelines, published in 1990, highlight the need for the strategic management of road safety. USM embraces and augments existing Accident Reduction and Prevention (ARP) programmes by developing modest highway and traffic engineering measures for accident reduction in each part of the town or city in the form of local area safety schemes. These work by achieving a safer distribution of traffic among the roads in the local area, and can be integrated with measures taken in the area in pursuit of other urban policies. In this way, accidents and casualties can typically be reduced by about ten per cent beyond the reductions achieved by traditional ARP programmes.

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