Children
2016 was the third consecutive poor year for road safety: 25,670 people lost their lives on EU roads compared to 26,200 the previous year – a 2% decrease. But this followed a 1% increase in 2015 and stagnation in 2014. In addition, around 135,000 people were seriously injured on European roads in 2014 according to European Commission estimates based on the MAIS 3+ standard definition of a serious injury. Road collisions give rise to huge costs to society. A recent study estimated the value […]
The Belgian city of Antwerp has announced a trial of restrictions on heavy goods vehicles in two areas during the early morning and afternoon on school days. Lorries will be prohibited from circulating between 7.30 and 9.00 and between 15.00 and 17.00 when children are travelling to and from school. The Flemish pedestrians organisation Voetgangers Beweging has welcomed the announcement, describing the measure as a ‘Christmas gift to the children of Antwerp’ and called for expansion of the scheme across Flanders.
The Belgian consumer organisation Test-Achats/Test-Aankoop has called for tougher safety standards for children’s cycle helmets after it found large differences in the ability of current models to protect against brain injury. The organisation commissioned the University of Strasbourg to test twelve child cycle helmets using a digital model of the human head to simulate the protection offered. Price offered no indication of performance, as an €80 model was outperformed by one selling for €10. The best model tested carried a 30% risk of brain […]
Association Prévention Routière, ETSC’s French member organisation, has published a list of road safety priorities for the Presidential election candidates. The proposals include a ban on use of mobile phones while driving by all company employees and a target of zero children killed on French roads. Some major corporations have already banned their employees from using mobile phone (including hands free kits) at the wheel, including Unilever, the multinational consumer goods company. The manifesto was sent to all presidential candidates. Eight out of eleven […]
Children under twelve are now required to wear a cycle helmet in France under legal changes that came into force on 22 March. Spain began requiring helmets for under-16s in 2014, and a number of other EU member states have had bicycle helmet laws for youngsters for several years including Sweden, Slovenia and the Czech Republic. In Malta, all riders are required to wear a helmet.
A new mobile phone game launched by the Automobile Club of Romania is encouraging kids to tell their parents when they exceed the limit. Plimbă Ursul (Bear Driver) features a bus driven by a bear, collecting friendly animals from bus stops along his route. Using GPS data, the game tracks the speed of the vehicle the child is travelling in, and warns if it is going too fast. The child can then let the driver know – and if they don’t slow down, the […]
ETSC is pleased to support the third annual UN Global Road Safety Week which runs from 4-10 May. This year’s events and actions are all about highlighting the plight of children on the world’s roads and generating action to better ensure their safety. How safe are European roads for children? Last year ETSC published new research into children killed in cars in the EU showing that, in 2012, at least 319 child car occupants aged 0 to 14 were killed. Our soon-to-be published report […]
Around 240,000 car occupants were killed in road collisions in the EU in the years 2001-2012. There were 12,345 deaths in 2012 compared with 27,700 in 2001 (1), a cut of 55%. Deaths of car occupants were cut by more than the overall death rate (49%) and substantially more than the rate for other road users (41%). Car occupants have therefore benefitted more than other road users from road safety measures adopted over the past decade. This is not surprising, as many of those […]
Seat-belt reminder alerts in all car seats could save 900 lives a year Spain and Latvia make biggest progress in cutting car deaths Transport safety campaigners are calling on the European Union to accelerate progress on reducing the number of people killed in cars every year in the EU, as new research shows 12,345 car occupants were fatally injured in 2012. The report into trends in car occupant safety, published today by the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC), found that 900 lives could be […]
This 3rd PIN Report provides an overview of European countries’ performance in four areas of road safety. It builds on the 1st and 2nd Road Safety PIN Reports published in June 2007 and 2008 respectively. It shows how countries have progressed in reducing road deaths between 2001 and 2008 and how they perform in protecting a particular vulnerable group: children. It also gives an overview of the striking disparities in the market penetration of safe cars and outlines the role of European capitals as […]