The use of passively safe lighting columns, traffic signals and sign posts are becoming increasingly important on both highways and rural roads. The European Standard EN12767 specifies performance requirements for passively safe support structures for permanent road equipment. It both defines and limits the levels of occupant injury severity when impacting these structures.

There are three categories of passive safety support structures:
High energy absorbing (HE): slow the vehicle considerably on impact. The risk of secondary collisions with trees, pedestrians and other road users is reduced, however the severity of the impact for vehicle occupants can be high.
Low energy absorbing (LE): are generally designed to bend in front of and under the impacting vehicle, before shearing or detaching towards the end of the impact.
Non energy absorbing (NE): permits the vehicle to continue after the impact with a limited reduction in speed. They may therefore provide a lower primary injury risk than energy absorbing support structures, but a higher secondary injury risk if other hazards exist behind the support structure.