EU Road Safety Exchange
Twelve EU Member States are joining forces to share smart ideas for improving road safety, as part of a new EU-funded project. Although European roads are the safest in the world and although road safety has improved greatly in recent decades, the number of deaths and serious injuries on our roads is still far too high. In 2018, there were over 25,000 fatalities in road accidents. While this is a decrease of 21% compared to 2010, it represents only a 1% decrease compared to 2017.
There are important differences in the road safety performance of the different EU Member States. The three-year EU Road Safety Exchange project aims to tackle these disparities and will link up experts from Austria, Bulgaria, France, Greece, Ireland, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Sweden.
Transport experts from the twelve participating countries will work together to share best practice on reducing speed, building safe infrastructure and improve enforcement, data collection, as well as the safety of pedestrians and cyclists in urban areas.
EU Road Safety Exchange is funded by the European Parliament and led by the European Commission. The project is managed by ETSC on behalf of the European Commission.
Latest News
Lithuania is the winner of this year’s European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) Road Safety Performance Index (PIN) Award, in recognition of major improvements in road safety over the last decade. Out of the European countries tracked by ETSC, Lithuania was the only EU country to halve road deaths between 2011 and 2021. Among non-EU European countries, only Norway did better with a reduction of 52%. The ETSC panel of experts […]
Dutch-inspired improvements to cycling infrastructure in Lithuania, harmonised day and night-time urban speed limits in Poland and major new national road safety strategies in Greece and Portugal are some of the changes inspired by the EU-funded Road Safety Exchange project, which wraps up with a final event today in Brussels. The project, which was funded by the European Parliament and managed by the European Transport Safety Council on behalf of […]
18 May 2022, 09:30-12:30 CEST Although European roads are the safest in the world and road safety has improved in recent decades, the number of deaths and serious injuries on our roads is still far too high. Three years ago, twelve EU Member States joined forces to share smart ideas for improving road safety, as part of an EU-funded project, EU Road Safety Exchange. Transport experts from Austria, Bulgaria, France, […]
The Lithuanian government has announced changes to road safety rules in the country that will be implemented in two phases next year. From 1 January, Lithuania will introduce the Emergency Corridor system for allowing easier access to emergency vehicles during heavy traffic. The system, already implemented in Poland, Belgium, Germany and other EU countries can speed up emergency response and save lives. The system was a focus of ETSC’s REVIVE […]
Covid-19 pandemic travel decrease mainly responsible for a 17% drop in road deaths last year in the EU; Deaths dropped by 37% in the last ten years – short of the EU target to cut by 50% by 2020; Greece announced as the winner of the 2021 ETSC Road Safety Performance Index Award – with road deaths down by 54% in ten years; 2020 a “turning point” year – future […]
The Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis launched an ambitious new national road safety action plan earlier this month. At the heart of the proposals are a target to reduce deaths by 50% by 2030 and the development of a National Road Safety Strategic Plan 2021-2030 by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport. Greece saw the biggest reductions in annual road deaths in the EU over the decade to 2019, with […]
Spain’s Directorate General of Traffic (DGT) will install 45 new time-over-distance cameras throughout 2021, a 50% increase on the currently installed number. Spain currently has 750 fixed speed cameras, 543 mobile units as well as aerial enforcement by helicopter and drone. In addition, there are 82 time-over-distance cameras (also known as average-speed cameras), but this year they will increase to 127.
French cities and towns will be able to install speed cameras within their territory without consulting with the government’s state representatives (prefects), according to legal changes debated last month. Although speed cameras are a familiar site on French national roads and motorways, until now it has been complicated for mayors to install them on urban roads, requiring multiple levels of bureaucracy to be consulted. If approved, the change would allow […]
ETSC’s Austrian member KFV has issued a damning report on e-scooter safety, warning of severe deficiencies with the vehicles themselves, particularly their braking distance when compared to bicycles. KFV investigated real-world e-scooter rider behaviour: speed choice, turning, helmet use, lighting and choice of infrastructure. The effectiveness of e-scooter braking systems was analysed on a test-track test. Finally, an Austria-wide survey highlighted the lack of knowledge of legal regulations. KFV says […]
The Netherlands has begun issuing fines following detection of mobile phone use by a new generation of cameras, the first EU Member State to do so. Since last month drivers holding a phone behind the wheel can be photographed by smart cameras. If the system determines that the driver is holding a phone, the photo is automatically forwarded to the relevant agency where an investigating officer will determine whether there […]