Publications
Speed is a major factor in overall road safety performance. Excessive and inappropriate speed is accountable for about one third of fatal collisions and is an aggravating factor in most collisions. 2,100 lives could be saved each year if the average speed dropped by only 1 km/h on all roads across the EU. Speeding on different types of road In the EU, 37% of all road deaths occur on urban roads. Among the countries that monitor levels of speed compliance on urban roads countrywide, […]
Letter: ACEA’s attempts to weaken the European Commission’s proposals on new vehicle safety measures
A group of safety experts, consumer groups, transport police, environmental campaigners, city authorities, cyclists and road collision victims have written today to members of the European Parliament’s Committees on Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) and Transport (TRAN) to raise concerns over the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA)’s attempts to weaken the European Commission’s proposals on new vehicle safety measures and to ask MEPs to pass the legislation as soon as possible, to maximise its life-saving potential. Download the full letter (pdf) For more […]
Case study: Bolk Transport ETSC’s PRAISE project addresses the safety aspects of driving at work and driving to work. Its aim is to promote best practice in order to help employers secure high road safety standards for their employees. In this case study, Marco Koopman, Driver and Material Manager in charge of Quality, Environmental, Health, and Safety Policy at Bolk, discusses the organisation’s approach to work related road risk in an SME. FACTFILE Company: Bolk Transport Sector: International Transport/Logistics Fleet: 190 trucks, 400 trailers and 350 […]
The European Commission has published new proposals to revise qualification and training rules for lorry and bus drivers. ETSC welcomed the initiative but says the rules should be extended to van drivers and include elements on avoiding distraction. Data from 2014 show that 3,863 people were killed in collisions involving HGVs of more than 3.5 tons and 751 in those involving buses and coaches. But ETSC points out that more die in collisions involving vans, than with lorries (nearly 4,000 in 2012). Van use […]
Case study: Transport for London ETSC’s PRAISE project addresses the safety aspects of driving at work and driving to work. Its aim is to promote best practice in order to help employers secure high road safety standards for their employees. In this interview, Glen Davies, Programme Manager, Freight & Fleet Programmes at Transport for London discusses the organisation’s approach to integrating road risk management in its supply chain for public works and contracting services. FACTFILE Company: Transport for London (2015 ETSC PRAISE Awards – Public authority […]
In this briefing, ETSC makes the case for supporting the redesign of the front end of HGVs to reduce the current risks to both car occupants and vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists (VRUs). A change in design could have a significant impact on the number of deaths and serious injuries involved in collisions with HGVs.
Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) is the term given to a range of devices that assist drivers in choosing appropriate speeds and complying with speed limits. Intelligent Speed Assistance technologies bring speed limit information into the vehicle. Drivers receive the same information that they see (or sometimes miss seeing) on traffic signs through an onboard communication system, helping them to keep track of the legal speed limit all along their journey. Information regarding the speed limit for a given location is usually identified from an […]
The European Commission has proposed a revision of Directive 96/53/EC which prescribes the maximum permitted weights and dimensions for vehicles using the road networks in the European Union. The proposal will grant derogations from the maximum dimensions of vehicles for the addition of aerodynamic devices to the rear of vehicles and give the possibility to redefine the geometry of the cabs for tractors. The derogations must meet certain requirements, one of which is not to increase the load capacity of vehicles. The requirements will […]
Regaining pace: road deaths down by 9% in 2012 A total of 27,700 people were killed in the EU27 as a consequence of road collisions. Around 313,000 were recorded as seriously injured and many more suffered slight injuries. Following disappointing results from 2011, the year 2012 brings a welcome contrast as 27 out the 31 countries monitored by the PIN Programme registered a drop in the number of road deaths. Frontrunners are Malta and Cyprus followed by Israel and Denmark. But road deaths increased […]
In the European Union 4,254 people lost their lives in collisions involving heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) in 2011, 3,999 in collisions involving light goods vehicles (LGVs) – goods vehicles with a maximum permitted weight below 3.5 tonnes – and 722 in collisions involving a bus, coach or trolleybus, totalling 29% of the overall number of road deaths recorded in 2011. Since 2001, for the EU as a whole, deaths in collisions involving an HGV and in collisions involving a bus or coach were reduced […]
This report aims to offer employers insight into tackling fatigue amongst HGV drivers. Fatigue is one of main risks for this group of professional drivers. Part one looks at the involvement in HGVs in collisions and collision causation factors including fatigue. The second part of the Thematic Report gives an overview of EU legislation on driving and resting times. Although this legislation aims at improving the working conditions of drivers and ensuring fair competition in the EU, this report will focus in on its […]
This ETSC policy paper gives an overview of how drink driving could be effectively tackled in commercial transport through various regulations and initiatives. The paper illustrates how alcohol is affecting driving skills and its effect on crash rates. Moreover against the background of their alcohol policies, it shows how successful a number of countries are in tackling drink driving. Focusing on commercial transport, the paper presents the comprehensive regulatory framework existing in Europe and its Member States and shows the role that private stakeholders […]
The role of driver fatigue in driving safety is a complex one, especially within commercial road transport, which is the focus of this review. The core issue is one of working time and the opportunity this offers for rest and recuperation from work, together with the possibility of presenting for work unimpaired by fatigue and loss of sleep. However, powerful economic and social forces influence and control the normative pattern of work of commercial drivers. Working time is, after all, one of the basic […]
Road crashes continue to be the main source of accidental death and injury in the European Union (EU) and throughout the world. Each year in EU countries over 42,000 road users are killed and, when under-reporting is taken into consideration, around 3.5 million are injured. This accounts for an annual cost of over 160 billion Euro and untold pain and suffering. Improvements throughout the traffic system using all the known strategies from crash prevention through to injury reduction and post impact care are needed to respond to the growing […]