EU road deaths: we need safer infrastructure for all
Antonio Avenoso
Executive Director
ETSC (European Transport Safety Council)
Antonio Avenoso, Executive Director of the European Transport Safety Council reflects on new EU road death data, the need to do more to protect vulnerable road users, and the potential for research like the SAFE-UP project to contribute to this need.
Last month, the European Commission published a new analysis of EU road death data that shows which modes of transport are responsible for inflicting the most harm. Similar analyses have also been carried out at a national level in both the UK and France.
The breakdown (see infographic below) shows road user type and the other ‘main vehicle’ involved in the crash. The figures have been taken from 2019 as detailed data for 2020 is not yet available.
The analysis reveals that deaths overwhelmingly occur in collisions involving cars and trucks and confirms the urgent need to increase the protection of vulnerable road users (VRUs) such as pedestrians and cyclists. Of course, this is not new information, but presenting the data in such a clear way highlights the need to do much more in encouraging a shift from the modes that cause the most harm, and to find more effective ways of protecting our most vulnerable road users.
EU policies are already evolving in this direction, to some degree, with the new mandatory vehicle safety measures introduced by the General Safety Regulation focused on VRUs. Vulnerable users also need to be taken systematically into account by countries when applying the Road Infrastructure Safety Management Directive - though this does not apply to all roads.
Matthew Baldwin, the European Commission's road safety star refers to VRUs as 'valuable road users' - because walking and cycling contribute to reducing air pollution and congestion and are far less likely to result in injury or death.
The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) has long advocated for an inverted pyramid of priority, with vulnerable road users at the top, followed by public transport, and private motorised transport at the bottom. The reality in most European cities today is still the reverse, but there are signs that this is changing.
Here in Brussels, where I live and work, a shift to a city-wide default 30 km/h speed limit already appears to be paying dividends, according to the early data. Paris has made a similar move, and Spain wants all urban areas to use this lower speed limit by summer 2022. While this is a good start, safer infrastructure like separate cycle lanes for bikes and e-scooters is essential in creating a transport system that works for all.
The SAFE-UP project is developing new prototype technology to improve VRU detection in bad weather conditions, novel active safety functions for collision avoidance and mitigation, and a C-ITS based system that will provide on-time warnings to both drivers and connected VRUs in safety-critical situations. We are interested in the potential of this research to enhance the safety of VRUs. Technology can play an important role in a safe system approach to road safety, as part of a holistic approach that takes into account improvements to infrastructure, driver behaviour, enforcement and passive safety.
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The ETSC is a proud member of the SAFE-UP advisory board.
