For more than five decades, medical and policy communities have recognised that survival following a road traffic collision is profoundly influenced by what happens in the first minutes after impact. Post-crash response was formally embedded as Pillar 5 of the WHO Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011–2020 and sits squarely within both the Safe System and Vision Zero paradigms.

Yet despite this formal recognition, it remains the least developed element of the system. The first critical minutes continue to rely almost entirely on unprepared bystanders.

Driver First Assist is currently delivering a jurisdiction-wide first response training programme across the Government of Jersey, demonstrating that Pillar 5 can move from policy architecture to operational infrastructure.

This presentation will:

• Revisit the evolution of post-crash response within the Safe System
• Examine why structural delivery has lagged behind policy endorsement
• Consider the human and economic implications of continued inaction
• Explore practical pathways to completing the Safe System model

David Higginbottom, Chief Executive, Driver First Assist

David Higginbottom is the Founder and Chief Executive of Driver First Assist (DFA), a UK not-for-profit organisation dedicated to strengthening post-collision response by developing trained occupational drivers and bystander responders.

For more than 15 years, David has worked to address a critical question in road safety: how can society create a sufficiently large, capable and distributed network of people who can respond effectively in the vital minutes following a road traffic collision?

His background combines senior leadership experience in the road transport sector, workforce development, organisational change and strategic implementation. He previously led a major transport trade union, managed multinational transport related projects across Europe, and played a key role in supporting the UK road transport industry's transition to the Driver Certificate of Professional Competence (Driver CPC), one of the most significant workforce capability initiatives introduced to the sector in recent decades.

David holds an MBA from Alliance Manchester Business School and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (FCILT).

Through DFA, he has focused on developing practical approaches that help employers, fleets and professional drivers contribute to safer roads and stronger communities. His work sits at the intersection of road safety, organisational behaviour and systems thinking, with a particular emphasis on operationalising proven post-collision interventions at scale.

David is a recognised advocate for strengthening the fifth pillar of the Safe System approach – post-collision response – and regularly engages with policymakers, industry leaders, emergency services and road safety organisations on workforce capability, resilience and road injury prevention.