The analysis of road safety performance in the EU and its Member States is so far focused on rankings of mortality rates and counts of fatalities and (serious) injuries. Although such macroscopic view can be valuable in identifying trends – such as the ever-growing fatality share of vulnerable road users – however we have limited knowledge about the underlying unsafe operational conditions of our road transport system. Only when the available crash and casualty counts (“final outcomes”) are supplemented by a set of so called Safety Performance Indicators (SPI, e.g. on seatbelt and helmet use, drink driving, and speeding), will it be possible to better explain systematic developments in safety performance over time and evaluate the systemic impacts of countermeasures. This report therefore aims to prepare the scope for introducing an enlarged set of SPIs to be assessed at regular intervals, preferably which comparable methods and assigned with tangible targets, to provide an improved and objectivised basis for road safety policy and management at EU and national levels for the decade 2020-30. (Author/publisher)
Abstract