The APBP Policy Committee regularly reviews and updates our statements. The original policy statement on Victim Blaming was published in June 2022. This revision was approved by the Board of Directors in June 2025 and can be found here.
APBP believes it is our professional duty to make it safe for people to travel in their community, requiring us to incorporate this duty into our work wherever possible by focusing the conversation on systematic safety improvements, rather than only trying to identify a party at fault. We especially prioritize avoiding finding faults with or blaming crashes on the actions of those typically most vulnerable (those road users outside of a motor vehicle).
APBP encourages professional practitioners (such as traffic and transportation engineers and agency officials), as well as law enforcement and media to avoid reporting on crashes involving pedestrians, bicyclists and other vulnerable travelers in a way that places undue blame on them for the traffic violence they suffer, especially when they are using a dangerously designed system shaped by our auto-dependent culture that does not adequately consider their needs or the context of the street. APBP supports developing a different mindset about crashes that is reflected in a new vocabulary with comprehensive descriptions in police crash reports, local government publications and presentations, and reporting by the media.
APBP supports Vision Zero and its use of a Safe System view of traffic crashes. The Safe System approach recognizes human imperfections and shared responsibility, and requires that systems be designed with those human qualities in mind. APBP recognizes that designers, policy makers, system operators, and system users share in this responsibility. As a group of practitioners, APBP acknowledges the responsibility to promote safe design.