“Road safety injection is a cocktail of ingredients. Do not let people tell you that road accidents just happen and that fatalities are inevitable consequences of drivers’ errors. We know and have the methods to prevent mistakes, leading to lost lives and serious injuries.”

— Matthew Baldwin, European Commission, Department of Mobility and Transport.

October 15, 2020: “Covid -19 deviates our attention from this other pandemic and the fact that every single day worldwide more 3.700 people loses their lives in traffic. In the first decade of action for road safety, we had tried to get a grip on this, we worked out fingers to the bone, we had put a lot of effort in this, but unfortunately, it was not enough. We must try harder in the next decade, we have to do more, we have to improve what we already started in the first decade of action, but also have to do to a different thing,” Chairman of European Institute for Road Assessment – EuroRAP, Ferry Smith opened the joint conference of projects Risk Assessment on Danube Area Roads (RADAR) and Safer Bicycle Routes in Danube Area (SABRINA).

More than 240 road safety experts and representatives of road infrastructure safety sector from Danube area and transport stakeholders from all over the world registered to the joint online conference organised in cooperation with the European Union Strategy for Danube Region (EUSDR) – PA1b: To improve mobility and multimodality – Road, Rail, and Air Links.

The conference was an opportunity for road safety organisations and experts to discuss and chart the future strategic directions focusing on the improvement of the road infrastructure safety in the Danube area for all road users.

What Covid-19 can teach about road safety?

At this high-profile event, governments official, European Commission representatives and a range of road safety advocates announced strong plans to address another health crisis that has been going on for decades. Although comparing the extent of suffering and death wrought by both horrific causes is horrendous, we cannot help but wonder what can Covid-19 can teach us about road safety, mobility and how it can save lives as well as much future suffering.

“I want to focus on the extraordinary 1.35 million global dead on our roads. In the era of Covid, we have a broadly similar number of deaths on our roads – each and every year. Just in the European Union alone we have 23.000 dead, which accounts for about 51 per one million population. In the era of Covid, we have learnt that the public accepts strong public action to protect public health and that is what we should take as an encouragement. We want to build better not go back to the old normal,” stated Matthew Baldwin, Deputy Director-General, European Commission, Department of Mobility and Transport.

“If all countries European Union would deliver the same level of road safety, we would already be at 50 % and would be saving around 12.000 lived per year. All of this comes down to the exchange of information and how do we learn from each other,” added Steve Phillips, Secretary-General, Conference of European Directors of Roads (CEDR).

Road safety does not stop at borders

Franc Žepic, Coordinator, European Union Strategy for Danube Region (EUSDR) – PA1b: To improve mobility and multimodality – Road, Rail, and Air Links, agreed and continued that “to keep traffic moving, to make it efficient, sustainable, safe, and secure, we need to make joint efforts. To improve road safety, we need to develop and use the right measures to enhance the safety of all road users. Our common goal should be to experience the benefits of the road and bicycle network that will enable us to move efficient, safe, and secure between all the Danube region countries and beyond. That is why we need to pay special attention when planning infrastructure projects across borders. High standards for quality and safety should be the same in all countries, all over the world and all over Europe. We are here because the road safety does not stop at borders.”

The conference aimed at challenges and opportunities in the Second decade of Action for Road Safety (2021-2030) proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in September 2020.

The resolution encourages the Member States to make efforts to ensure the safety and protection for all road users through safer road infrastructure by taking into account the needs of motorised and non-motorized transport, and other vulnerable road users, especially on the highest-risk roads with high rates of crashes, through a combination of proper planning and safety assessment, including through the identification of crash-prone areas, design, building and maintenance of roads, signal systems and other infrastructure, taking into consideration the geography of the country.

Road infrastructure needs to design proactively and reactively

Keeping in mind the Second decade of Action for Road Safety, Lina Konstantinopoulou, Secretary-General, European Road Assessment Programme (EuroRAP), added that “the road infrastructure needs to be safe for all road users – vehicles, pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists. It needs to be designed proactively and reactivity in terms of road safety, but in a common in an objective manner. We need to focus on the most cost-effective actions, such as road maintenance upgrades, pedestrian footpaths, or bike lanes and with a focus on higher risk intersections. Tackling road safety requires a holistic approach and a responsibility for the safe system approach.”

The conference outlined the RADAR (Risk Assessment on Danube Area Roads) project’s mid-term results and uncovered the Road Infrastructure Safety Improvement Strategy plans. Now more than ever is important to understand the efficient and effective transport system, as well as the fast and overall safe movement of people and goods.

RADAR project is about doing just that. It has a safe system approach at its heart. Through four thematic areas, RADAR is working cohesively and in parallel with the revised Directive 2019/136[1]. As Marko Ševrović, European Institute of Road Assessment – EuroRAP (EIRA-EuroRAP) Danube Region Infrastructure Improvement Strategy and EUSDR – RIMS Challenge stated, “in RADAR project training courses, study visits, thematic area reports approved by our Road Safety Expert group, will lead us to develop a Danube Road Infrastructure Safety Improvement Strategy plans.”

Jure Kostanjšek, Automobile Association of Slovenia (AMZS) presented how to target infrastructure spending with Safer Roads Investment Plans. Bojan Jovanović, University of Zagreb, Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences (FPZ) showcased provisions and explained ways that can contribute to infrastructure safety for Vulnerable Road Users. Gabor Pauer, KTI Institute for Transport Sciences Nonprofit Ltd presented how the implementation of Smart Speed Management Infrastructure can add yet another layer of safety. Stelios Efstathiadis, Transportation Solutions Road Infrastructure showcased best practices Safety near Schools in the Danube area.  

SABRINA: an innovative approach to bicycle infrastructure safety

The conference also announced the new innovative approach to bicycle infrastructure safety suggested by the synchronic Danube Transnational Programme project SABRINA (Safer Bicycle Routes in Danube Area).

Large parts of the Danube road network rate poorly for safety, particularly for vulnerable road-users, and death rates in many countries are higher than the EU average. Cyclists are amongst the most vulnerable road users. According to the European Road Safety Observatory, pedestrians, and cyclists account for 29 % of all road user deaths in the EU. It is, therefore, crucial to improving conditions for road bicycle infrastructure safety in the Danube area by raising capacities of all relevant national, regional, and local stakeholders to build and improve bicycle infrastructure in a safe and sustainable way. This is the innovative approach to bicycle infrastructure safety, suggested by new project SABRINA.

The joint conference addressed partners countries’ national public authorities and all projects’ Associated Strategic Partners. The altogether 160 participants from 29 countries across the world of the conference were the representatives from non-governmental organisations, universities and national public authorities including representatives from relevant Ministries and Road Authorities from partners’ countries.

As Matthew Baldwin stated: "Road safety injection is a cocktail of ingredients. Do not let people tell you that road accidents just happen and that fatalities are inevitable consequences of drivers’ errors. We know and have the methods to prevent mistakes, leading to lost lives and serious injuries.”

More about RADAR 

More about SABRINA

More about EUSDR

Speakers at the joint conference ‘Improving Road Safety in Danube Area for All Road Users’:

• Ferdinand Smith from the European Road Assessment Programme (EuroRAP)
• Mathew Baldwin from the European Commission (EC)
• Steve Phillips from the Conference of European Directors of Roads (CEDR)
• Franc Žepič from the European Union Strategy for Danube Region (EUSDR)
• Lina Konstantinopoulou from the European Road Assessment Programme (EuroRAP)
• Ana Leganel from the Danube Transnational Programme
• Jure Kostanjšek from the Automobile Association of Slovenia (AMZS)
• Bojan Jovanović from the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences (FPZ)
• Gabor Pauer from the KTI Institute for Transport Sciences Nonprofit Ltd
• Stelios Efstathiadis from the Transportation Solutions
• Boštjan Primc from the Municipality Ilirska Bistrica, Slovenia
• Aleksander Buczyński from the European Cyclists’ federation (ECF)
• Marko Ševrović from the European Institute for Road Assessment – EuroRAP (EIRA – EuroRAP)
• Klaus Machata from the Austrian Road Safety Board
• Olivera Rozi from the European Institute for Road Assessment – EuroRAP (EIRA – EuroRAP)

The following resources are available from the conference:

• Click HERE to access the full recording of the conference
• Click HERE to download the full PowerPoint presentation from the conference
• Click HERE to watch the RADAR project Road Safety Video Campaign
• Click HERE to watch the SABRINA Virtual study visit tour

[1] Amendment of Directive 2008/96/EC on road infrastructure safety management