The “Safe System” of road design

The system seems to be a combination of reducing vehicle speeds (either by changing the posted speed limit or via other design changes, like narrowing roadways).

The Safe System intersection is designed to limit car speed and facilitate eye contact between users. It does so by expanding pedestrian areas via curb extensions or bumpouts, narrowing crosswalks, and removing parking within 20-25 feet of an intersection. The crosswalks and narrowing of the lanes encourages cars to slow and to stop well ahead of the crosswalk, while bumpouts shorten the distance pedestrians must be in the road.

Specific design changes in a Safe System include:

• Lane reductions, on some multi-lane roads where pedestrians and bicyclists are present, that help slow vehicles and give drivers more time to react
• Flashing beacons that alert drivers to pedestrian crosswalks
• Roundabouts that slow traffic through dangerous intersections and prevent deadly side-impact collisions
• Median barriers that, when used on some rural divided highways, reduce head-on collisions