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 aged 15 to 30 killed on the roads in the EU. The number of young people killed has decreased since 2001 in all PIN countries except Romania. Portugal and Spain achieved the best annual average reductions in the number of young people killed between 2001 and 2010, around 12%, followed closely by Latvia. Good progress was also made in Sweden, The Netherlands and Switzerland, who have become the safest countries in terms of young people killed per young inhabitants. Despite these improvements, young people continue to experience particularly high risk on the roads, especially young males. On average, the road mortality rate for young people is 69% higher for young people than the corresponding risk for the rest of the population. 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 disproportionate 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. (Author/publisher)
Abstract