Road safety analysis Municipality of Amsterdam : Relevant focal groups, developments and points of interest. For the development of its road safety policy in the next few years, the Municipality of Amsterdam requires a clear picture of the present state of affairs. This includes the development in the numbers of fatalities and serious road injuries, and identifying important focal groups. Large focal groups in the absolute sense are relevant here, but also groups that are larger in Amsterdam than in the three other major cities in the Netherlands (The Hague, Rotterdam and Utrecht) and elsewhere in the Netherlands. The decline of the number of road fatalities in Amsterdam is approximately 6% annually. This is similar to elsewhere in the Netherlands, but better than in the other three major cities. Similarly, the 4.6% annual decline of the mortality (road fatalities per inhabitant) in Amsterdam is also faster than in the three other major cities and elsewhere in the Netherlands. The mortality in the rest of the Netherlands is about 50% higher than in the four major cities. The largest groups of road fatalities and most important crash characteristics and locations in Amsterdam are: - Cyclists, pedestrians and car occupants, - Crashes with the passenger car as the collision opponent and single vehicle crashes, - 25 to 35 year - olds and the over - 75s, - 50 km/h road sections and intersections. In comparison with the other major cities Amsterdam shows relative differences in relation with: - Pedestrians and cyclists (more than elsewhere) and car occupants (fewer than elsewhere), - Crashes with ‘other modes of transport’ as the collision opponent (more than elsewhere), and single vehicle crashes (fewer than elsewhere), - Crashes at 50km/h road sections (more than elsewhere). Serious road injuries are divided into crashes involving motorized traffic (SRIm) and crashes not involving motorized traffic (SRIn). For many years now, approximately 400 serious road injuries are casualties in crashes involving a motor vehicle, and approximately another 200 casualties occur in crashes in which no motor vehicle is involved. The development concerning the number of serious road injuries in crashes not involving motor vehicles is particularly noticeable: an increase of 100% (a doubling) between 2000 and 2011. Since 2009, however, absolute numbers can no longer be given. number of casualties declined; this was followed by a (small) increase. Between 2000 and 2011, the number of SRIm showed a stronger increase in Amsterdam than in the three other major cities. This is also the case for the morbidity (SRI per inhabitant) during that period. The increase in SRIm between 2000 and 2011 can mainly be attributed to cyclists (50% increase) and powered two - wheelers (80% increase). Like elsewhere, the number of SRIm among pedestrians and drivers declined between 2000 and 2011. According to the National Medical Register (LMR) in the Netherlands, the SRIn among cyclists are the largest group of casualties. Their share is approximately one third of all casualties. The largest groups of SRIm (during the period 2000 - 2009) are: - Moped riders, pedestrians, passenger car drivers and cyclists; - 18 to 55 year - olds; - 50 km/h road sections and intersections (SRIm). Groups having worse numbers of injured in Amsterdam than in the other three major cities are: - Motorcyclists; - Light modes of transport (pedestrian, cyclist, (light) moped and motorcycle) as SRIm collision opponent; - SRIm 25 to 45 year - olds. The analyses were carried out using data from the police registration (BRON data file) and the National Medical Register (LMR). We not only looked at Amsterdam and the other three major cities, but also at the rest of the Netherlands. The analyses had to allow for the limited reliability of the data sources used. Generally, BRON data can no longer be used for analysis, with the exception of the data on road fatalities. Since 2009, data on traffic injuries in BRON is too limited for meaningful analysis. Data from the hospital registration (LMR) until 2011 are still available and can be used for making developments visible. Crashes involving cyclists and not involving a motor vehicle can only be investigated using LMR data only, because data on this crash type has always been almost entirely absent in BRON. The consequences of these restrictions are, for instance, since 2009, the number of serious road injuries can no longer be established for subgroups such as municipalities. Only estimates and distributions are still possible. This means that, based on the default databases such as BRON and LMR nothing can be said about, for example, the development of the number of serious crashes involving slow mopeds after 2009. For this reason, Amsterdam also requested to investigate the extent to which data from the Injury Information System (LIS) is useful for the analysis of road safety in Amsterdam. Amsterdam also wants to have clarity about the usability of the road casualty data as recently presented in the VIA Signaal data application. The data of two LIS hospitals in Amsterdam was analysed to examine the usability of the LIS data. The usability of the crash data that has recently been made available in VIA Signaal has also been investigated. This was done by investigating how this data is gathered and how sources of different quality are used. Finally, Amsterdam requested comparison of the results of the present study with the results of previous research into road safety developments in Amsterdam that was carried out by SWOV.
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