Publications
Exceeding speed limits, drink- or distracted- driving, and failure to wear a seatbelt are among the important factors leading to death and serious injury on European roads. Road safety laws have been adopted to guide drivers in their behaviour. Many comply with them willingly. Others, however, would be less likely to comply if it were not for fear of being detected and sanctioned. This is where traffic law enforcement comes in. This report gives an overview of the current state of road traffic enforcement […]
A new study led by Professor Oliver Carsten at the Institute for Transport Studies, University of Leeds, looks at the most effective and user-friendly human machine interface (HMI) options for Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA). ISA systems will be required on all new cars, vans, lorries and buses sold in the EU from 2022, as part of an array of mandatory new vehicle safety technologies included in the updated EU General Safety Regulation, agreed last year. The updated law defines ISA as “a system to […]
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, […]
In June 2015, Transport for London (TfL), the body responsible for the transport system in Greater London, began testing an after-market ISA system on buses serving two routes in London. This was part of its commitment to halve the number of people killed and seriously injured on London’s roads by 2020 and came amid growing concerns about the safety of pedestrians and cyclists in the city. Following the success of the trial, the Mayor of London announced in late 2017 that TfL would require […]
On the 17 May 2018 the European Commission proposed a new set of mandatory vehicle safety standards for all vehicles sold in the European Union. Intelligent Speed Assistance is one of the technologies that has been proposed to be fitted on all vehicles. ETSC is calling on the European Parliament, the Council and Member States to support these proposals. What is Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA)? ISA is a vehicle safety technology already available on several models of new car in EU showrooms. ETSC is calling […]
Exceeding speed limits, drink or distracted driving and failure to wear a seat belt are still the leading causes of death and serious injury on European roads. Despite legislation designed to prevent all four, many drivers involved in fatal traffic collisions clearly failed to comply with one or more road traffic laws at the time of their collision. Improvements in traffic law enforcement should be part of an integrated road safety policy and have been shown to lead to rapid reductions in deaths and […]
Since 2010 the number of people seriously injured in the EU has been reduced by just 1.6%, compared to an 18% decrease in the number of road deaths in the same group of countries. The majority of countries have reduced road deaths at a faster pace than seriously injured since 2001. In 2014, more than 203,500 people were recorded by the police as seriously injured on the roads in the EU, representing an increase of almost 3% compared to 2013. There is strong political […]
The European Commission adopted its urban mobility package on the 17th of December 2013. With 11,000 deaths on the road in urban areas across the EU in 2012, improving road safety in cities has been recognised as a political priority. The new Eurobarometer survey also shows that a large majority of European citizens (73%) considers road safety to be a serious problem in cities. The EU set a goal in the Transport White Paper to: “move towards the target of zero fatalities in road […]
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 […]
This report offers employers an insight into tackling speeding amongst employees driving for work. Speeding can be defined as driving in excess of legally set speed limits and/or driving at speeds which are inappropriate to the prevailing conditions. Speeding is the main cause of road traffic collisions, deaths and serious injury. Loss of control of the driving task, and thus potentially of the vehicle, arises when the demands of the driving task exceed the available capability of the driver. As speed increases the task […]
Tackling the three main killers on Europe’s roads The core of this publication is the benchmarking of countries’ performance in the area of enforcement, but good practice examples from Member States are highlighted as well. In the area of driver behaviour, the following 3 “main killers” are covered: Speed Non-use of seat belts Drink driving. Police forces also enforce offences that are not mentioned in this document such as use of mobile phones, drug, fatigue, non-use of helmets, working time, child seats etc, due mainly to missing data and analysis. Road collisions are […]
This 4th PIN Report provides an overview of European countries’ performance in five areas of road safety. It builds on the three previous Road Safety PIN Reports published in June 2007, 2008 and 2009. It shows how countries have progressed in reducing road deaths and serious injuries since 2001. It also shows how countries perform in tackling the three main killers on the roads: speeding, drink driving and failure to wear a seat belt. These rankings have been carried out during the fourth year […]
This paper presents new ideas for European action to save lives on Europe’s roads for the decade ahead. The year 2010 is a deadline for both reaching the EU’s target of halving road deaths (set in 2001) and the end of the 3rd Road Safety Action Programme (adopted in 2003). The EU will probably not reach the target and serious lessons must be drawn from the past ten years. New targets must be set for 2020 which will mobilise action at a joint European […]
Excessive speed has a singularly devastating impact on the health and safety of road users, increasing both the risk of a crash and the severity of crash outcomes. Speed recurrently contributes to crashes when driving speeds are higher than permitted speed limits or higher than circumstances allow (e.g.: rain, fog, high traffic volumes). The current concern over climate change has also put spotlight on the role of road transport in atmospheric pollution. Road transport’s share of carbon dioxide emissions has been rising unlike that […]
This factsheet gives an overview of the safety situation on Germany motorways and looks at the implications of sections of motorway that have no speed restrictions. Photograph by Dirk Vorderstraße – Creative Commons license https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Autobahn,_Kamener_Kreuz,_Rush_Hour_(11783262743).jpg
This report provides an overview of European countries’ performance in five areas of road safety. It shows how countries have progressed in reducing annual numbers of road deaths between 2001 and 2005, and how they perform in the three key areas of road user behaviour: seat belt use, drink driving and speed. It also gives an overview of the penetration of state-of-the-art seat belt reminders into new passenger cars sold in European countries. The relevant rankings have been carried out under the Road Safety […]
Myths and Reality Illegal and inappropriate speed is the single biggest contributory factor in fatal road crashes. It increases both the risk of a crash happening and the severity of injuries resulting from crashes. Managing speed is therefore the most important measure to reduce death and injury on our roads. But the concern for safety is not the only reason why speed management is important. Following the oil crisis of the 1970s, many lower speed limits were introduced in an attempt to reduce fuel […]
An overview This report is the result of ETSC´s “Traffic Law Enforcement Programme”. It monitors enforcement practices in the EU in order to stimulate best practice exchange and identify further needs. It focuses on police enforcement in the field of speeding, drink driving and seat belt use and examines the implementation of the European Commission’s Recommendation on traffic law enforcement (EC 2004). In this Recommendation EU countries were asked to apply in a national enforcement plan what is known to be best practice in the […]