This is quite clear from a so-called PIN, Road Safety Performance Index, drawn up by the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC). A total of 45 countries report the status of their road safety performance to the ETSC.
– The purpose of the PIN is to highlight both progress and setbacks in this particular area by comparing different achievements as regards road safety, says VTI’s Anna Vadeby, who has been appointed by the Swedish Transport Administration to be Sweden’s PIN representative. In this way the various countries can take advantage of each other’s experiences and knowledge, she goes on.

Affordable cost to save lives

Experiences from those European countries that have made the biggest improvements show that there are measures that are effective and save the lives of many unprotected road users at an affordable cost. The biggest improvements for pedestrians have been made in Portugal, Sweden, Norway and Belgium and for cyclists in Finland, Lithuania, Slovakia and Latvia. For motorcyclists and moped-riders the greatest improvements have been achieved in Portugal and Latvia, followed by Belgium and Ireland.

Positive development in Sweden

In Sweden, pedestrian fatalities have fallen by 50 per cent between 2001 and 2010 and by the same figure for cyclists, while the number of car drivers killed has fallen by 30 per cent.
– We are extremely pleased with these developments, that are a result of several combined measures, in particular improvements in the road environment, mainly the separation of pedestrians and cyclists from motor traffic and more streets with a 30-km speed limit in areas that have many unprotected road users. Unfortunately we do not see the same positive development when we look at seriously injured cyclists, says Anna Vadeby.´

Photo: Lasse Hejdenberg