Risky road user behaviour is behaviour that adversely affects road safety, such as driving under the influence of alcohol, drugs or medicines, speeding, inappropriate speed, distracted or fatigued driving, red light negation, and failure to use or misuse means of protection (motorcycle or moped helmet, seatbelt).

Driving under the influence of drugs or impairing medicines reduces fitness to drive[i] and increases crash risk. Drugs have a numbing, stimulating or mind-altering effect on the brain, or a combination of these effects, which impair traffic task performance.

In the Netherlands, a sustainable road safety approach, in which measures in the fields of Engineering, Education and Enforcement (3Es) are complementary, has been used for decades. Enforcement reduces high-risk road user behaviour and is therefore an important component of this safe system approach.

Children are a vulnerable group among road users. They are, after all, still building up skills which will eventually allow them to become safe and independent road users. The role of parents in teaching their children how to behave safely in traffic is very important.  In this fact sheet, children are taken to belong to the age category 0 to 14, unless specified otherwise.

Sustainable Road Safety implies that the traffic environment is designed to rule out serious crashes and to mitigate the severity of the crashes that do happen. The human dimension is the primary focus: man who is vulnerable, makes mistakes and does not abide by the rules.

Visual information is of the utmost importance to road users. In darkness, both public lighting and vehicle lighting help road users take stock of the traffic situation and help them to be seen by others. Installing public lighting leads to a 50% reduction in the number of nighttime injury crashes.

A 30 km/h zone is also known as a ‘zone 30’ or a 'residential area'. The zone is mostly situated within an urban area and consists of connected access roads with a 30 km/h speed limit. The areas have a residential function where slow traffic and motorized traffic mix. For this reason speeds must be low (30 km/h maximum).

A progressive penalty system encompasses heavier or more far-reaching sanctions being imposed as one commits more offences. A progressive penalty system is often called a progressive fines system if it involves increasingly higher financial penalties (fines), but (other) recidivism schemes such as demerit points systems can also be seen as a progressive penalty systems.

The elderly have a higher than average fatality rate in traffic. The most important cause of this high fatality rate among the 75 year olds and older is their greater physical vulnerability. In addition, functional limitations can lead to the elderly more frequently being involved in certain types of crashes.