Yesterday, the Road Safety Performance Index (PIN) part of the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) published their 6th report. The publication entitled ‘A Challenging Start towards the EU 2020 Road Safety Target’ places a focus on three areas of road safety; the progress of countries in road safety across the EU27, recommendations for national road safety changes and the road safety problem facing young people.
This 6th PIN Report provides an overview of European countries’ performance in three areas of road safety. It builds on the five previous Road Safety PIN Reports published in June 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011. The report compares developments in the numbers of road deaths, during the first year of the 2020 EU road safety target, and estimates the cost benefit to society. It also sets these one-year developments in the context of the reduction in road deaths observed since 2001, the starting point of the first EU road safety target.
The new reports places youth and road safety issues high on the agenda in Europe. Its three main areas of focus are:
- Mixed results in the first year of the 2020 target – reduction in deaths slows down
- Institutional Setups Fit to deliver Road Safety (Road Safety Management)
- Reducing road deaths among young people aged 15 to 30
For us, the report’s focus on young people offers organizations working for youth and road safety issues up-to-date and cutting edge data on the latest road safety situation relating to young people across Europe. The report also offers clear recommendations on improving road safety for young people across Europe through the road safety managment approach, that is, addressing all areas of road safety – awareness, education, infrastructure, appropriate laws, enforcement and policy.
Key findings from the PIN Report
Around 140,000 young people aged 15 to 30 were killed in road collisions in the EU27 over the past ten years. In 2010, 9,150 young people aged 15 to 30 were killed in road collisions, compared with 18,670 in 2001. Deaths among this age group decreased by 44% between 2001 and 2010, compared with 36% reduction in total deaths over the same period. Young people aged 15 to 30 represent 20% of the total EU population but 30% of all road deaths and this share has been reduced only slightly since 2001.
Young people, especially males, continue to have the highest number of road deaths per million population of any age group Males account for 81% of all young people aged15 to 30 killed on the roads in the EU.
View the PIN Report in the attachments
Young people continue to experience particularly high risk on the roads, especially young males. On average, the road mortality rate is 69% higher for young people than the corresponding risk for the rest of the population (Fig. 16). For young males, mortality is 168% higher than for the rest of the population. Approximately one in four young people who dies in the EU does so as the result of a road collision, about twice as many as die from suicide.
Collisions involving a young driver or rider account for 37% of total road traffic deaths. For each young driver killed there are 1.2 passengers or other road users killed in the same collisions. Young drivers, especially males, are not just a danger to themselves; they also pose a greater risk to their passengers and other road users than other drivers do.
While young people must gain experience in order to use the roads safely, the process of gaining that experience exposes them and others to high risk. Governments and road safety actors must find the right balance between the need to tackle the overrepresentation of young people in road collisions and encouraging young people’s access to experience and mobility.
Member States must make the fight against road deaths among young people a priority if they want to achieve the EU 2020 road safety target and their national targets. The share of young people’s deaths among total deaths will increase as road safety of the rest of the population increases unless young people’s safety is similarly improved.
The country comparison shows that the differences between countries are large. Curbing deaths among young people therefore requires general road safety measures, coupled with specific measures, for example targeting young drivers and powered two-wheeler riders, in particular males, in countries where reductions in young people’s deaths on the road are lower than the EU average reduction.
Over the coming weeks, YOURS will focus on the areas of recommendation and study in the PIN report in separate news story spotlights. Some of these topics include:
- The safety of young people compared to the rest of the population.
- Safety is a greater challenge for young males than for young females
- Enforcement, in particular against the three main killers.
- Safer infrastructure and safer vehicles 58
- Licensing
- Technologies to support enforcement
- Training and education
You can read more about PIN here. You can download the full report in the attachments.