The European Commission has made clear its ambition to cut the number of deaths and serious injuries of vulnerable road users in half by 2030 compared to 2020 levels, with the ultimate aim of reducing the number of road accidents to zero.
Cyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrians are particularly at risk of injury or even death from road traffic incidents, and with accidents involving vulnerable road users comprising almost half of the total number in the EU, they represent an area where greater efforts are needed to ensure safety.
Determining the causes of such accidents is a vital foundation for efforts to improve safety, and with this booklet, the In-depth Understanding of Accident Causation for Vulnerable Road Users (InDeV) project has provided a vital reference document for safety diagnosis. The project is also engaged in developing technology and tools for the collection and analysis of data about accidents involving vulnerable road users, including video analysis and mobile apps.
How will the project help to prevent accidents involving vulnerable road users?
This booklet aims to provide a number of approaches that road safety practitioners and analysts can employ when studying the causes of accidents, and to analyse a number of road safety techniques which can be used to gather this type of data.
In addition, the handbook aims to provide more accurate calculations of the socio-economic costs of accidents involving vulnerable road users, and provides guidelines for how best to study each particular problem – including preparing a study and interpreting the results – to ensure that accurate data on road traffic accidents is acquired.
Ultimately, a better understanding of the causation of traffic incidents, particularly accidents involving vulnerable road users, can easily offer an insight into how best to target efforts to improve road safety, and to ensure that the EU’s goal of significantly reducing the number of road traffic accidents can be met.
