Road unsafety in Flanders : problem analysis until 2009. In this report the level of road safety in Flanders is expressed in figures (using data up to and including 2009). In chapter 1 we briefly explain the goal and structure of this report and we list some limitations of the presented analyses. In chapter 2 we describe the problem of road unsafety in Flanders and mention the most important limitations with respect to the available crash data for Flanders, among which under-reporting of the number of accidents and victims in traffic. Chapter 3 lists the historical evolution of road (un)safety in Belgium and Flanders. This evolution shows that the number of fatalities and seriously injured persons in Belgium and Flanders has declined greatly since 1973. Nevertheless, the decline in the number of fatalities seems to be less extensive in the past few years (2006 to 2009). Given the historical evolution, we can conclude that the objectives with regard to the number of road fatalities (and seriously injured persons) in Flanders will probably not be reached and additional efforts might be needed. In a next chapter (chapter 5), the road safety level in Flanders is compared to that in Belgium and in Europe. Although Flanders scores well as a region in Belgium, it seems to be a quite average performer in Europe. Despite improvements in road safety, Flanders is still seriously trailing behind the best performing European countries (the Netherlands, Sweden, United Kingdom). These countries also continuously try to improve their road safety. The fatality risk there is half that of Flanders. Furthermore, the risk in Flanders is discussed at the province level (chapter 6). Subsequently, in chapter 7 road safety is analyzed in more depth according to road user type (or mode), type of accident, location, personal characteristics and time of day. In absolute terms, car drivers remain the largest problem group, followed by cyclists. However, motorcyclists and moped riders, followed by pedestrians and cyclists are exposed to the highest risk (taking into account the vehicle kilometres travelled). About 20% of all registered accidents (in 2009) are one-sided accidents. The degree of seriousness of these accidents is generally higher than that of accidents involving multiple road users. It is remarkable that the number of this type of crashes (with only one party involved) does not seem to diminish over the years. The majority (70%) of accidents involves two drivers or pedestrians and the car is the most probable opponent for each road user. About half of all accidents occur within the built-up area. When we make a distinction according to the degree of injury, we notice that approximately 75% of the fatalities occur outside the built-up area. In half of the cases, the fatalities consist of car drivers or car passengers (this was around 60% in 2007). Inside the built-up area, 49% of the fatalities were a cyclist or pedestrian. Despite a more favourable evolution inside the built-up area, in the future, still sufficient attention needs to be paid to the road safety of pedestrians, cyclists (and mopeds riders). Most accidents (62%) occur on a road section and 7 out of 10 fatalities occurred on a road section. In spite of a bigger decline of the number of fatalities on junctions than on road sections, junctions remain a problem especially for two-wheelers but also for other vulnerable road users. With respect to traffic performance, motorways remain the safest roads. However, the number of accidents expressed per kilometre road length is the highest on motorways. Compared to the previous period 2005-2007, the share of fatally and seriously injured road victims in the age category between 16 and 34 has further decreased. Still, this group deserves our attention. Irrespective of transport mode, novice drivers are overrepresented in accident statistics. The peak for young moped drivers is striking. The elderly (65+) also constitute a risk group, mainly because of their high vulnerability (and consequently increased injury severity). Further we conclude that more men become a victim of road accidents than women. The highest number of accidents occur during the working week in the evening rush-hour, so when traffic is at its peak. The morning rush-hour is also clearly noticeable in the accident figures. During weekend nights there are still more accidents than during week nights. The injury severity of these accidents during weekend nights is also in 2009 higher than these during week nights. Moreover, in 2009, we noticed an increase in the number of fatalities during weekend days. This is not the case for the seriously injured persons. Finally, also weather conditions have an impact on the number of accidents. Accidents occur frequently during rain showers or in case of a wet road surface. For one-sided accidents, a wet, slippery or dirty road surface is often indicated as an accident circumstance. (Author/publisher)
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