The ESRA project (European Survey of Road users’ safety Attitudes) is a joint initiative of research organisations and road safety institutes in 17 European countries aiming at collecting comparable (inter)national data on road users’ opinions, attitudes and behaviour with respect to road traffic risks. The project was funded by the partners’ own resources. The first ESRA survey was conducted online using representative samples (at least N=1,000) of the national adult populations in 17 European countries. A common questionnaire was developed and translated into 20 different country-language versions. The survey covered a range of subjects, including the attitudes towards unsafe traffic behaviour, self-declared (unsafe) behaviour in traffic and support for road safety policy measures. Data collection took place simultaneously in all countries in June/July 2015. In total, data from more than 17,000 road users (of which 11,000 frequent car drivers) were collected. Hence, the ESRA survey produced a very rich dataset. An overview of the project and the results are available on: http://www.esranet.eu. This report presents the key results of the ESRA 2015 survey. The themes covered are (1) the use of different transport modes, (2) involvement in road crashes, (3) safety feeling, (4) concerns about road safety, (5) self-declared behaviour, (6) attitudes towards road safety, (7) acceptability of unsafe traffic behaviour, (8) behaviour of other road users, (9) enforcement, and (10) support for policy measures. The main focus lies on the overall European results with an emphasis on the comparison between different road safety topics: speeding, driving under influence of alcohol or drugs/medication, distraction and fatigue, and seat belt use. In the description of the results (dis)similarities between countries are highlighted as well as with regard to demographic characteristics. Key results – 15 highlights of the ESRA 2015 survey: *Less than one tenth (6%) of the adult European road users were involved in a traffic accident within the last three months. Fortunately, the large majority are minor accidents with material damage only or only slight injuries. *The highest involvement in road traffic accidents is reported by ‘users of e-bikes’ (10%) and ‘users of mopeds’ (6%). *Attitudes towards drink-driving, drowsy driving, and seat belt use are quite similar between European countries. However, there are large differences in the attitudes towards speeding and distracted driving. *The public acceptability of driving under the influence (DUI) of alcohol is very low (3%). It is much higher for speeding (30% of Europeans considers that driving 10 km/h above the speed limit is acceptable). *Countermeasures for DUI of alcohol are widely supported by European citizens. For instance, 75% is in favour of installing alcohol interlock devices in cars of recidivists; 80% is of the opinion that there should be zero tolerance for novice drivers. This is in line with the public acceptability of DUI. *In general, the declared personal unacceptability of risky behaviour is stronger than the perceived social unacceptability – e.g. people think that others are more likely to accept DUI of alcohol than they personally do. *Even if people acknowledge that a certain behaviour is risky or unacceptable, they nevertheless may show that behaviour. For example, only 4% of Europeans think it is acceptable to type text messages or emails while driving, but 27% declare that they have sent a text message or email at least once during the past 12 months. *The self-declared behaviour of women is less risky than that of men. They condemn also risky behaviour more than men, and are more in favour of countermeasures. *The results with respect to mobile phone use differ strongly by age group, i.e. young people report more use of mobile phones in traffic, have a higher acceptability of it, and perceive the risks to be lower with respect to this behaviour, than older people do. *Older drivers feel safer than the younger age groups when driving a car and when using public transport. *Overall, Europeans estimate DUI of alcohol and speeding to be the main causes for road accidents. *Annually, only 29% of Europeans is stopped for a check by the traffic police. The percentage of Europeans checked at least once a year for driving under the influence of alcohol is 19%. *Many road users denounce the unsafe behaviour of other car drivers. The most frequently reported risky behaviours of others are driving too fast, careless driving and not leaving a safe distance to the car in front. *Approximately 3 out of 5 Europeans (61%) feel that the occurrence of ‘distracted driving’ has increased. This was the highest value of all prompted behaviours followed by ‘aggressive drivers’ (49%), and ‘speeding’ drivers (45%). *Compared to 2010 listening to music while walking or cycling seems to have increased considerably. While in 2010 most pedestrians and cyclists reported that they had never used MP3/iPod/music devices (results from SARTRE4), in 2015 about two out of three respondents younger than 34 declared listening to music through headphones as a pedestrian, and 50% declared cycling while listening to music through headphones. Key recommendations at European level: *Define level road safety performance indicators at European level (that could partially be based on ESRA) in the fields of speeding, impaired driving, seat belt use, and distraction. Such indicators could be used at both European and national level. *Define medium and long term targets for these road safety performance indicators. *Facilitate and support the exchange of best practice across EU Member States in relation to effective countermeasures, in particular for speeding, impaired driving, mobile phone use, the use of seat belts, the use of child restraint systems, inadequate risk perception and enforcement. *Develop common principles and goals at European level (based on cooperation within Member States) for the implementation of effective and efficient strategies in the areas of speed management, impaired driving, and mobile/smartphone use in the Member States. *Integrate such common principles and goals within future of EU directives and/or other legislative mechanisms (including standards, controls and rehabilitation measures). *Support the further development of ESRA as part of a European monitoring system for road safety and ensure that road safety performance indicators produced by ESRA are used to inform and support policy making at European and national levels. Conclusion: The ESRA project has demonstrated the feasibility and the added value of joint data collection on road safety attitudes and performance by partner organizations in a large number of European countries. The intention is to repeat this initiative on a biennial or triennial basis, retaining a core set of questions in every wave, allowing the development of time series of road safety performance indicators. This will become a solid foundation for a joint European (or even global) monitoring system on road safety attitudes and behaviour. (Author/publisher)
Abstract