The drive to road safety: where we are and what next

15-21 May 2023 is the UN’s Global Road Safety Week. The focus for this year’s event is sustainable transport, and supporting people towards walking, cycling and using public transport more.  

To encourage people to use and embrace those transport modes, you first have to make roads safer. In this article, we look at where we are now on the drive to road safety, new technologies and initiatives to improve road safety, and what next for sustainable mobility. 

The key to making improvements is first understanding where you’re starting from. To do that, good data is key.  

In 2022, around 20,600 people died in road crashes. Based on 2021 data, we know that: 

If we drill down further, we can see that in urban areas, vulnerable road users (pedestrians, cyclists and riders of powered two-wheelers) make up nearly 7 in 10 deaths. Deaths for this group is predominantly caused by crashes involving cars and trucks. 

Image: Distribution of police-reported serious injuries and fatalities by transport mode in the EU27 (2020).  

Any death on our roads is a death too many. It’s encouraging to see the EU’s goal to reduce deaths to zero by 2050 as part of ‘Vision Zero.’ Improving the data available to us will help us to build our understanding around road safety, and allow us to set a benchmark from which future policy decisions can be evaluated. Then, we can see in practice how close we are to reaching Vision Zero and what further steps we need to take.  

In November 2020, the Commission published a Call for Evidence on the ‘Creation of the Common European mobility data space (Communication).’ Building on the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy, the Commission wants to create a common European mobility data space to support access to and the sharing of data sources for both existing and future transport and mobility.  

The Commission is planning a Communication in Q2 2023, the focus of which is expected to cover what’s already in place in terms of EU legislation and interlinking existing transport data. The Commission sees this as a crucial first step for the role digitalisation can play in reducing traffic congestion, improving road safety and increasing efficiency in road transport.   

The role of behaviour nudges

Technology is continually advancing, and that’s never been truer for the automotive sector. From 7 July 2024, all new types of vehicles must be fitted with advanced driver distraction warning systems, and from 7 July 2026, all new vehicles must have this technology.  

What’s advanced driver distraction warning? It’s a system that lets drivers know when they’re distracted from driving. For example, by monitoring their eye movements and notifying drivers so they can (hopefully) take action to rectify their behaviour. The Commission has estimated that around 10-30% of crashes in Europe are caused by distraction. Evidently, there’s a need to act in this area, and behaviour nudges like this could play a key role. 

The Commission recently closed feedback on the draft delegated regulation – adoption is planned for Q2 2023. More information can be found here. 

New transport modes: autonomous driving

Technology is continually advancing, and that’s never been truer for the automotive sector. From 7 July 2024, all new types of vehicles must be fitted with advanced driver distraction warning systems, and from 7 July 2026, all new vehicles must have this technology. 

What’s advanced driver distraction warning? It’s a system that lets drivers know when they’re distracted from driving. For example, by monitoring their eye movements and notifying drivers so they can (hopefully) take action to rectify their behaviour. The Commission has estimated that around 10-30% of crashes in Europe are caused by distraction. Evidently, there’s a need to act in this area, and behaviour nudges like this could play a key role. 

The Commission recently closed feedback on the draft delegated regulation – adoption is planned for Q2 2023. More information can be found here. 

New transport modes: autonomous driving 

Once an abstract concept ready for deployment somewhere in the distant future, autonomous driving (driverless cars) is now a reality. While 10-30% of crashes in Europe are caused by distraction, that number doesn’t include the number of crashes caused by human error. If you take the human out of the driving seat, our roads could be a lot safer.

Technology can be used to make people safer – even in the riskiest of settings. While autonomous vehicles aren’t commercially available on EU roads at the moment, Bosch and Mercedes-Benz have automated valet parking approved in Germany for commercial use. Widespread commercial use isn’t that far away on our roads. 

We need to make sure the right regulatory framework exists to make our roads safer. E-scooters and e-bikes are a classic example of where regulators haven’t yet got this right. While e-scooters and e-bikes are a fantastic way to modernize the way we travel around cities in more sustainable ways, a basic lack of infrastructure has led cities to despair over unusable pavements – see France and Brussels as examples. Images, like the one below, are all too frequent. 

The end of this EU legislative period is fast approaching. While we still have big-ticket items to come (think the greening transport package in June), a lot of policy-makers are starting to look ahead to the EU Parliament elections in May next year, and what the next Commission’s agenda will look like. If we’re to reach Vision Zero by 2050, there’s still work to be done to get a safe, sustainable regulatory framework in place.

Caroline works in FIPRA’s Transport and Travel team. The team can be reached here.