EU to Fall Far Short of Road Safety Goal

As Europe emerges from COVID-19 lockdown, there's a great opportunity to capitalise on recent investments in pop-up cycle lanes and pedestrian priority measures. Particularly in light of the newly published Ranking EU Progress on Road Safety report, published by the European Transport Safety Council Report (ETSRC), which warns that EU states are "almost certain" to fall short of their target of cutting road safety deaths by 50% by 2020.

The report describes "stagnation at the pan-European level, with only 16 member states showing a reduction in road safety deaths last year and an overall reduction in road deaths of 24.7% since 2010. This equates to annual reduction of about 2.7%, and in fact this rate has declined in more recent years. In 2019, 22,660 people died on EU roads, with 12 countries, including the UK and the Netherlands, experiencing an increase in road deaths.

Despite this, some states are leading the way in reducing road deaths, such as Luxembourg (39%), Estonia (22%) and Switzerland (20%). Others remain at the top of the table of safest countries for road users, including Norway (20 road deaths per million inhabitants) and Sweden (22 road deaths per million inhabitants).

Investment in safer infrastructure for vulnerable road users is described in the report as mostly "slow and sporadic... despite increased awareness and demand". However, at a policy level there is an increasing recognition of the need to foster data-driven policy measures for reducing risk to vulnerable road users.

In June 2019, the European Commission adopted the EU Road Safety Policy Framework 2021-2030, outlining specific policy measures planned for 2021-2030 and developing on the EU Strategic Action Plan on Road Safety published in May 2018. As part of this, member states have committed to reporting on road safety Key Performance Metrics (KPMs).

Countries have mostly started reporting on KPMs for areas such as speed, safety belt use, protective equipment, alcohol, and distraction. However, very few are tracking those metrics related to vehicle safety, infrastructure and post-crash care. Specific definitions of each metric are still being determined, but here's a sample draft definition of a KPM for for infrastructure: "Percentage of distance driven over roads with a safety rating above an agreed threshold."

It's clear that such a data-driven approach, particularly when combined with the EU's embrace of the Stockholm Declaration's call for using technological innovation to reduce road safety risk, offers hope for the forthcoming decade. While autonomous vehicles will continue to grab the headlines, it's more likely that data-driven improvements of road infrastructure are likely to be more impactful in the the next 10 years. Hopefully, this will enable the rapid progress made during the lockdown period can lead to sustained progress in the years ahead.