The safety of vulnerable road users in the Southern, Eastern and Central European Countries (The “SEC Belt”).

While northern European countries have developed and implemented plans and policies that have significantly improved road safety, the south of Europe generally lies below the EU-15 average in relation to almost all safety indicators. Average fatality risk among the 10 newest member states is three-fold higher than the EU-15 average and five-fold higher than for the UK. This report considers how vulnerable road users can be better protected in southern, eastern and central Europe. Factors considered include problems with sources of crash data for pedestrians and cyclists, improving the behaviour of vulnerable road users, targeting the behaviour of other road users, improved general road safety education, improvements to rural roads, infrastructure measures in urban areas, traffic restraint, safety audits, the European Road Assessment Programme (EuroRAP), vehicle design measures for bicycles, motorcycles, cars and lorries, the European New Car Assessment Programme (EuroNCAP), and the European New Motorcycle Assessment Programme (EuroNMAP). A summary of recommendations is provided.