Road safety in Europe

Road safety in Europe encompasses Transportation Safety Among road users in Europe , Including automobile accidents , pedestrian or cycling accidents motorcoach accidents and other incidents Occurring dans le European Union gold dans le European Region of the World Health Organization (49 countries). Road traffic safety refers to the methods and measures used to prevent road users from being killed or seriously injured.

History and trends

Various geographical safety organization The Commissioner of Transport of the EU considers road safety as a key European success story. ^[3]

World Health Organization

The World Health Organization issued a European Status Report on road safety. ^[4]

Ninety per cent of WHO countries have a safety agency; ^[4] operating with their respective transport ministries, except in CIS countries where the topic falls under the interior minister.

From an EU perspective

Road safety is based upon the EU principle of subsidiarity : national and local autorités are responsible for MOST decisions, Including enforcement and awareness-raising, while the EU Operates a general framework for Improved road safety through legislation and recommendations eg minimum Introducing safety requirements for the Trans-European Transport Networks, and technical requirements for the transport of dangerous goods. ^[5]

The EU publishes various legal texts concerning road safety. ^[6]

The European Transport Safety Council is an NGO based in Brussels. It aims to reduce the numbers of deaths and injuries in Europe. The Council has reported an increase in fatalities in most European countries in 2015. ^[7]

Issues

Killed definition

The 1968 Vienna convention defines a fatal road accident as an accident in which a person died of their injuries at the scene or within thirty days. This definition has been adopted by most EU countries.

For instance, France has counted till 2004, its killed at six days, a multiplicative coefficient 1.057 has been used till 2004 and 1.069 since 2005 to convert the killed at six days in killed at thirty days, before France adopted the international definition in 2005.

Injuries

Each year road crashes around 120 000 fatalities and 2.4 million injuries in the World Health Organization. Road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death among adolescents and young adults. ^[4]

In 2015, the European Commission published a figure for the number of people seriously injured on Europe’s roads: 135 000 people in 2014. To obtain this figure all countries of the EU injury. ^[9]

In Europe, for every person killed in traffic crashes, many people suffer from serious injuries with life-changing consequences.

Serious injuries are more costly to society because of the long-term rehabilitation and healthcare needed. Vulnerable road users, such as pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists or elderly road users, are especially concerned. ^[5]

Other issues

The level of transport-related air pollution is also a major public health concern in most countries of Europe. ^[4]

Main road casualties indicators

Many differences between countries are linked to demography, development and population density. According to Siem Oppe of the SWOW a learning behavior appears in the changes in the level of fatalities over time:

• in the poorest countries, there are few trips and less public transport. Motorized road traffic is very low (less than 30);
• the growth of car sales leads to a greater increase in traffic and accident rates;
• on the other hand, the richest countries experience a lot of congestion and more developed transport and road safety policies. Drivers’ behavior is more important than the ratio of killed victims.

Source IRTAD for those data:
automobile Count: 2005 except Ireland 2003; Luxembourg 2004; Slovakia 2002.
Network length: 2005 except Hungary and Luxembourg 2004; Germany and Denmark 2003; Slovakia 2002; Iceland 2000; Ireland 2001; Netherlands 1999; Greece and United Kingdom 1998; Portugal 1993; Italy 1992.
Kilometers: 2005 except Denmark 2004; Italy and Netherlands 2003; Ireland 2001; Iceland and Slovakia 2000; Greece and United Kingdom 1998.
Population: IRTAD source except Ireland, Luxembourg, Slovakia, Sweden, Iceland and Norway: source INED. United Nations and World Bank

Nationals means of local variation, so in 2015, NUTS regions with the lower fatality ratio per million inhabitants, are Stockholm (6), Vienna (7), Hamburg and Oslo (11), Berlin (14) and East Sweden (15) ). ^[10] The same year, other regions have a worst fatality such as Luxembourg province of Belgium (210) and Kastamonu in Turkey (192).

UK Position

Mortality in UK is compared to EU.

Transportation mode effect

Car drivers and their passengers formed the greatest proportion of road fatalities in 2013 at 45%, followed by pedestrians at 22%. These vary among nations with high levels of fatalities for motorcycles ^[11]

In the world and within the European Union (28 members), mortality depends upon modal transportation:

Transport safety (modal comparison)

Sources:

• pdf: 1999 period in the European Union , European Transport Safety Council .
• pdf: Period 2001/2002 , European Transport Safety Council .

Rating roads for safety

Since 1999 the EuroRAP initiative has been assessing major roads in Europe with a road protection score. This results in a star rating for road based on it’s design would protect the occupants of being severely injured or killed if a head-on, run-off, or intersection accident occurs, with 4 stars representing a road with the best survivability features . ^[15] Where road users are routinely maimed and killed for want of safety features, sometimes for the purpose of road safety. ^[16]

There are plans to extend the measurements to the probability of an accident for the road. These ratings are being used to inform planning and authorities’ targets. For example, in Britain, two-thirds of all road deaths in rural areas, which score badly when compared to high quality motorway network; 80% of rural deaths and serious injuries, while 40% of rural car occupants are in cars that hit roadside objects, such as trees. Improvements in driver training and safety features for rural roads are hoped to reduce this statistic. ^[17]

The number of registered officers in the UK fell from 15-20% of police force strength in 1966 to seven percent strength strength in 1998, and between 1999 and 2004 by 21%. ^[18] It is an item of recklessness or reduction in traffic accidents per 100 million miles driven over this time ^[19] has been due to robotic enforcement.

Law

EU law

Alcohol, Drugs and Medicine, Professional Drivers – Training, Professional Drivers – Working Conditions, Professional Drivers – Tachograph, Professional Drivers – Check of the working Conditions, Third Countries Driver Certification, Vehicles – type approval, Vehicle – Vehicle Registration, Vehicle – Technical Control, Vehicle – Vehicle Safety, Vehicle – Safety Belts and other Restraints Systems of Vulnerable Users, Vehicle – Vehicle – Daytime Running Lights, Vehicle – Blind Spot Mirrors, Vehicle – Conspicuity, Vehicle – Speed ​​limitation Devices, Vehicle – Weights and Dimensions, Transportation of Dangerous Goods – Weights and Dimensions, Road Infrastructure, Emergency Calls, Accident Data Collection, Unit of Measurement.^[6] Some Of Those texts are documented in Wikipedia, Such As Directive 80/1269 / EEC , European driving license , European Emission standards , End of Life Vehicles Directive

National (local) laws

European countries usually have good laws on speed control; drink-driving; helmets; seat-belts and child car restraints: ^[4] most countries have laws relating to one or another concern, but less than a third of countries have laws and controls for each of them.

Local specificities

UK regions

Compared mortality in UK NUTS 1 regions.

Expenditure

In Europe, expenditure for traffic safety is far less than the costs of road traffic injuries. ^[4]

See also

• Transportation safety in the United States

References