Road Safety Annual Report

Janstrup, Kira Hyldekær · 2014 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.1787/23124571

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Summary

The *Road Safety Annual Report 2017*, published by the International Transport Forum (ITF) and prepared by the International Traffic Safety Data and Analysis Group (IRTAD), addresses the global challenge of road traffic fatalities and the necessity of reliable data for effective policy-making. The report is motivated by the urgent need to meet United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3.2, which aims to halve global road traffic deaths and injuries by 2020. It highlights that while high-income countries have made progress, the trend of declining fatalities stalled in recent years, and low- and middle-income countries continue to bear the brunt of road safety tragedies, accounting for nine out of ten global traffic deaths. The report synthesizes data from 40 member and observer countries, with validated data available for 31 nations. It utilizes three primary indicators to measure road safety performance: fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants (mortality rate), fatalities per billion vehicle-kilometres (fatality risk), and fatalities per 10,000 registered motor vehicles. The analysis covers trends from 2010 to 2016, examining national road safety strategies, legislation regarding drink-driving and speed limits, and specific vulnerabilities among different user groups, with a particular focus on the safety of an ageing population. Key findings indicate that the positive trend of reduced road fatalities observed in previous years reversed in 2015 and 2016. In 2015, road fatalities increased by 3.3% across the 31 countries with consistent data, with 21 countries reporting an increase in deaths. This upward trend continued in 2016, with 14 countries seeing higher fatality counts. Long-term data from 2010 to 2015 showed a 6.5% overall decrease in deaths, but this improvement was not uniform; fatalities rose in the United States, Chile, and Sweden during this period. Conversely, Lithuania, Portugal, and Greece achieved reductions of over 35%. A critical finding concerns senior citizens: while overall deaths declined, fatalities among seniors aged 65 and older increased by 3.4% between 2010 and 2015. Seniors are disproportionately represented among vulnerable road users, such as pedestrians and cyclists, and have not benefited from safety improvements at the same rate as the general population. The report concludes that current safety measures may be reaching their limits in high-performing countries, necessitating innovative policy approaches. It emphasizes the need to strengthen data collection systems in low- and middle-income countries to enable robust diagnosis of road safety issues. Furthermore, it calls for improved collection of serious injury data, which is currently scarce despite affecting 50 million people annually. Policy recommendations include stricter enforcement of drink-driving laws, speed limits, and seatbelt and helmet usage, as well as implementing integrated mobility strategies to ensure safe access for an ageing population through better urban planning and vehicle safety improvements.

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• comparative international