Road safety: EU road fatalities fall by 11% in 2010

The European Commission has published new statistics showing that EU road fatalities decreased by 11% in 2010 (reports ACEM, the European motorcycle manufacturers' association). However, country by country statistics (see table below), show that the number of deaths still varies greatly across the EU.

Most countries achieved double-digit reductions in the number of road deaths over the past year, the best ones being Luxembourg (33%), Malta (29%) Sweden (26%) and Slovakia (26%). However there is still a lot of work to be done.

Road fatalities by country (per million inhabitants)

Member State / Fatalities by population / Evolution of fatalities

	2001	2010	2009 - 2010	2001 - 2010
Latvija	236	97	-14.00%	-61.00%
Lietuva	202	90	-19.00%	-58.00%
Spain	136	54	-9.00%	-55.00%
Sweden	66	28	-26.00%	-54.00%
Luxembourg	159	64	-33.00%	-54.00%
Slovenia	114	53	-25.00%	-53.00%
Ireland	107	45	-16.00%	-51.00%
France	134	62	-7.00%	-51.00%
Slovenia	140	68	-19.00%	-50.00%
Portugal	163	79	1.00%	-49.00%
Germany	85	45	-12.00%	-48.00%
United Kingdom	61	31	-18.00%	-47.00%
The Netherlands	62	32	-17.00%	-46.00%
Belgium	145	76	-12.00%	-44.00%
Italy	125	66	-6.00%	-44.00%
EU	112	62	-11.00%	-43.00%
Austria	119	66	-13.00%	-42.00%
Estonia	146	88	20.00%	-41.00%
Hungary	121	74	-10.00%	-40.00%
Czech Republic	130	76	-11.00%	-40.00%
Cyprus	140	75	-15.00%	-39.00%
Denmark	81	48	-13.00%	-39.00%
Finland	84	51	-1.00%	-36.00%
Greece	172	116	-10.00%	-30.00%
Poland	145	102	-15.00%	-29.00%
Bulgaria	124	102	-14.00%	-23.00%
Malta	41	36	-29.00%	-6.00%
Romania	109	111	-15.00%	-3.00%

The table shows progress under the 2001–10 road safety action plan, with EU-wide figures and a breakdown per country. It includes the most recent figures for 2010. EU road safety action plan In July 2010 the Commission adopted challenging plans to reduce the number of road deaths on Europe's roads by half in the next 10 years. Initiatives proposed in the "European Road Safety Policy Orientations 2011-2020" range from setting higher standards for vehicle safety, to improving the training of road users, and increasing the enforcement of road rules.

The Commission is working closely with Member States to implement this programme. Road safety action programme 2011–20: The Road Safety action programme sets out a mix of initiatives focussing on making improvements to vehicles, infrastructure and road users' behaviour.

There are seven strategic objectives:
• Improved safety measures for trucks and cars
• Building safer roads
•Developing intelligent vehicles
• Strengthening licensing and training
•Better enforcement
• Targeting injuries
• A new focus on motorcyclists

The European Commission intends to propose the following measures for powered two wheelers:

• to introduce a number of functional vehicle safety measures like e.g. mandatory fitting of Advanced Brake Systems, Automatic Headlamp On and updated anti-tampering measures (so speed contols cannot be removed) for certain categories of PTWs

• to develop technical standards on protective equipment such as clothing, and to study the feasibility of equipping motorcycles with an airbag and/or including the airbag in the protective clothing,

• to extend EU legislation on road worthiness testing/inspections to motorbikes and other powered two wheelers (which does not exist at the moment)

Source: European Commission

Look at latest safety stats

Once again the statistics confound popular beliefs. More motorcycles = more accidents? Not according to the Dft’s ‘Reported Road Casualties Great Britain 2009: Annual Report’ which shows that while motorcycle traffic went up by 2 per cent in 2009 (compared to 2008) , motorcycle casualty rates actually fell by a third.

In fact motorcycle traffic was 35 per cent higher than the 1994-98 average, a greater traffic increase than for any other road user type. Yet in percentage terms, the killed and seriously injured (KSI) rate has fallen by 33% against the 1994 -1998 base line average.

Not only did casualties fall in percentage terms, they also fell in real terms too, by 4 per cent (from 21,550 in 2008 to 20,703 in 2009). This figure is 14 per cent lower than the 1994-98 average. Comparing 2009 to 2008, there were 21 fewer fatalities, 206 fewer serious injuries and 620 fewer slight injuries.

Another interesting fact that has emerged from the report is that, for all classes of road casualties, ‘failed to look properly’ is still the single biggest cause of all accidents (reported in 38% of all accidents in 2009). More that one out of every three casulaties were caused by road users failing to look properly - think about that the next time you approach a junction!

Living dangerously?

Why does motorcycling have such a bad reputation for safety? One in four people associate it with the word “danger”. Geordie comedian and keen biker Ross Noble sums up a typical attitude;

“People go: Oh motorbikes, you're going to kill yourself on that. And that's a bit like going up to a chef and saying: Hmm, gas ovens. A lot of people kill themselves with gas ovens. You'd go. Yeah but loads of people don't. Loads of people make a nice dinner and shut the f**k up."

Statistically people are more vulnerable sitting on a motorcycle than sitting in a car; figures from the Department for Transport show that motorcyclists are 57 times more likely to be injured in serious crashes than car drivers. On average 500 riders are killed every year on Britain's roads, accounting for 20% of all road user deaths, and a further 5,500 are seriously injured.

However, to put those figures in perspective, there are 1.6 million motorcyclists on Britain's roads, so it's fair to say that 1,594,000 motorcyclists were neither killed nor seriously injured last year. Better still, the overall casualty rate for motorcycles has fallen over the past decade and is currently around 18% lower than it was ten years ago.

While motorcyclists are more vulnerable to injury than car drivers/passengers, that doesn't mean it is 'dangerous' to ride a motorcycle per se.

"Kill your speed"

After 'danger' the word most commonly associated with motorcycling by the public is 'speed'. Politicians, in particular, often respond to serious road accidents by imposing tougher speed limits – hence many A-roads now have a maximum limit of 50mph, reduced from 60mph. While this is a swift and cheap fix, it won't necessarily make any difference. Exceeding the speed limit was a contributory factor in just 5% of bike accidents in the UK in 2008. In fact the two most common factors contributing to motorcycle accidents in 2008 were failure to look properly and loss of control, which accounted for 30% of all incidents. Or to put it another way, riders are three times more likely to crash as a result of poor observation than by riding ‘too fast’.

Andy Ibbott of the California Superbike School is highly experienced in teaching motorcyclists to stay in control; “Over the years it has become clear that all riders, on all kinds of machines, can ride the straights really well. Most of the corners they carve tend to present a problem of some description of other”. Accident investigators confirm that the majority of riders who lose control on a corner (left hand bends are the worst) are travelling within the speed limit. Slower does not necessarily mean safer.

Responsible adults?

Interestingly, 46% of motorcycles are owned by people aged between 35 and 49, significantly older than the most accident-prone group of drivers, who are aged 17-24. In 2008 reckless riding was a factor in less than 10% of accidents and motorcyclists are half as likely to fail a breathalyser test as other road users.

So if motorcyclists are responsible adults who aren't riding recklessly beyond the speed limit, why are they so over-represented in the accident statistics?

Junctions. The most dangerous places for motorcyclists. During 2008 51% of serious injuries to riders occurred in collisions at junctions. It's easy to blame inattentive motorists, the SMIDSY (Sorry Mate I Didn't See You) but it's more complex than that. Sometimes vision can be obscured by traffic, road furniture or vegitation; the road position of the bike can make it hard to spot; filtering in congested traffic creates all sorts of issues.

Halving the number of collisions at junctions could reduce motorcycle casualties by 25% which would mean approximately 125 less deaths every year. That's a big difference.

But how can this be achieved? One option is a concerted campaign that is backed by the government, road safety professionals and pressure groups, motoring organisations (AA + RAC), motorcycle media and rider groups, alerting the public to the dangers of collisions at junctions and simple tactics for avouding these. Could the solution really be that simple? There's only one way to find out ....

From an article originally published in Used Bike Guide