In 2023, there were 270 fatalities among cyclists in traffic, which is 20 fewer than the previous year. Similar to last year, at least 40% of these individuals were riding e-bikes, as revealed by the annual report released by Statistics Netherlands on April 10. The total number of traffic-related deaths reached 684.
For the fourth consecutive year, cyclist fatalities (270) outnumbered those of passenger car occupants (194). Between 2019 and 2023, a total of 1,199 cyclists lost their lives in traffic incidents. Among these, 42% were the result of collisions with passenger cars or vans, while 10 percent occurred after collisions with trucks or buses. Additionally, 32% were attributed to single-vehicle accidents. Notably, for cyclists aged 75 and above, 38% of fatalities were due to single-vehicle accidents.
Despite an overall decrease of 61 road fatalities compared to 2022, the total figure remains higher than the period between 2010 and 2021.
In 2020, the ITF published Safe Micromobility, a report assessing the safety of micromobility and emerging mobility services. Over the past four years, significant changes have occurred in the evidence surrounding micromobility safety. The report presents an analysis of the current evidence on recent trends and risks in micromobility safety, offering safety recommendations for both authorities and micromobility operators in line with the Safe System approach.
The analysis is grounded in a comprehensive technical report authored by the same individuals, which contains more extensive information and a complete list of references for all data and findings presented in this publication.
Policy Insights:
Micromobility is becoming safer, but the rising incidence of severe injuries resulting from e-scooter accidents is a cause for concern. Overall, shared e-scooter crash risk is decreasing as their usage is increasing faster than injuries.
Safe infrastructure and vehicle design cannot be overstated. Rider behaviour and safety equipment must be complemented by better infrastructure and improved vehicle design, particularly for e-scooters.
Reinforcing existing policies improves safety. Road safety measures also make micromobility safer – managing speed, providing training to road users, and enforcing rules against impaired driving and riding.
Citing safety and environmental concerns, cities across Europe are following Paris’ lead with new laws aiming to discourage citizens from buying SUVs
Paris SUV parking charge
In a recent referendum, the majority of Parisians voted to increase parking fees for SUVs in an attempt to discourage more users from choosing this mode of transport. Due to their larger size, SUVs emit more emissions and pollute the environment more than other vehicles, as well as being a concern for road safety. Other cities have since taken action following the Paris vote, and a report also highlights the dangers these vehicles can pose to other road users.
Recent report on SUVs causing increased injuries in road collisions
Belgian knowledge institute Vias has also reported on the vehicle characteristics that affect injury severity after analysing all collisions between 2017 and 2021, involving 300,000 car occupants and vulnerable road users. The results show that vehicle mass plays an important role in the impact of a collision, with drivers of heavier vehicles more likely to be protected by the vehicle (injury risk in a collision decreases by 25% for SUV drivers), but individuals hit by them being more likely to suffer serious or fatal injuries (injury risk increased by 20% for car occupants that collided with an SUV).
These findings also have concerning implications for the safety of other road passengers such as cyclists and pedestrians. Vias reported that the risk of fatal injuries increases by 30% if either a cyclist or pedestrian gets hit by a car with a hood that is 10cm higher than average.
Cities in Europe also implementing policies to curb SUV sales.
With reports on sales of SUV vehicles on the increase, Paris is not alone in its bids to decrease the popularity of heavier SUV vehicles:
Paris’ SUV referendum originally followed the initiative of fellow French city Lyon, which had already announced a similar policy to enforce higher parking charges for heavier vehicles, which will be applied next June.
Another city in France, Grenoble, has already enforced a higher environmental tariff for heavier vehicles in car parks and is now also considering taxing SUVs as an additional initiative, as confirmed by the mayor’s spokesperson to CNBC.
French city Grenoble, meanwhile, has already implemented a higher environmental tariff in car parks for heavier vehicles, and a spokesperson from the mayor’s office in Bordeaux told CNBC that the city and the mayor are “at the reflection stage on the subject of taxing SUVs.”
Meanwhile in Germany, the city of Tübingen has introduced a six-fold increase in the annual cost of resident parking permits to 180 euros for vehicles with a combustion engine, that weigh over 1.8 metric tons.
The mayor of Hannover in Germany, told CNBC that after the Paris vote, residents of the city would “also have to face the question of how we deal with vehicles that take up more space.”
Meanwhile, London’s mayor Sadiq Khan implied that he would be paying attention to the effectiveness of these policies. It will be interesting to see the ongoing effects of these SUV policies, and if other cities will also join on trying to mitigate SUV usage due to road safety and environmental concerns.
The municipality of Amsterdam is working with telecom company, Odido, and the Townmaking Institute to explore the prospect of temporarily and/or locally limiting electric bicycle speeds in the city, to improve road safety in certain areas.
Intelligently reducing e-bike speed is a method that is being developed to improve safety in specific road scenarios, such as school zones, bad weather conditions, or road closures. In order for this technology to work effectively and ensure that required speeds are maintained, electric bikes would need to be connected to a communications network at all times.
The speed change technology has already been piloted on a closed circuit and the next stage of the project would be to test it on a busy cycle route. It has been reported that implementing this type of intelligent speed control for e-bikes on a large scale is likely to take a long time, as agreements need to be reached with the European Commission and electric bike manufacturers. There is also a need to gather evidence across the city on when and where cycling speeds need to be limited, and whether a maximum speed for cycle lanes would also be possible.
80% of Amsterdam’s streets set to switch from 50 km/h to 30 km/h zones from December 8th.
To help ease the transition to the lower speed limit, the city rolled out an information campaign in the affected streets during the time leading up to the change. Temporary road sign stickers reading “December 8, 30 km/h here” have been in place, allowing drivers to become accustomed to the revised speed limit in good time.
In addition to the speed limit change, local government is also implementing changes to traffic lanes. Special public transport lanes have been created, which are physically segregated from general traffic lanes, and where the speed limit will remain at 50 km/h.
The introduction of the 30 km/h zones is intended to increase road safety and reduce traffic noise.
The city has also published information about the changes and a map of the streets affected on its website here.
TRL has been awarded a contract with the UK’s Department for Transport (DfT) to oversee and execute the Safety Helmet Assessment and Rating Programme (SHARP).
The consumer awareness initiative was established in 2007 to support the reduction of severe and fatal head injuries typically sustained by motorcyclists involved in road collisions. Despite only constituting 1% of road traffic in Great Britain, motorcyclists account for an alarmingly high 20% of road fatalities. Of these fatalities, around 80% were attributed to head injuries. While all helmets are required to meet minimum safety standards by law, SHARP surpasses these standards, providing an independent evaluation of helmet impact performance. Helmets are rated on a scale of 1 to 5 stars, with 5-star helmets offering the highest level of protection. Additionally, SHARP provides guidance on choosing a properly fitting helmet. This information aids riders in making informed decisions within their budget at the point of purchase.
SHARP, aiming to assess approximately 30 helmets annually, draws on research findings from international studies on road traffic incidents involving motorcyclists. These studies replicate real-world accidents in laboratory conditions, allowing for the identification of impact locations, frequencies, and severities on helmets. By subjecting helmets to more demanding impacts than required by regulations, SHARP identifies helmets that offer superior performance in real-world collisions.
Dr. Phil Martin, Head of Transport Safety at TRL, emphasised the significance of TRL’s involvement in the SHARP program, stating, “Our appointment on the SHARP program feels like a return to our roots. From developing the original SHARP protocols, to advising the DfT on updates to the test protocols to reflect evolving helmet designs, TRL has been involved with SHARP for almost 20 years. Over time we have collected better data and provided better insights about the head injuries suffered by motorcyclists in road collisions. This data not only reveals the cause and location of injuries, but also the long term effects, derived from decades of collision research and our experience in providing expert testimony for personal injury claims.“
While helmet manufacturers prioritise safety and consumers consider it as a critical factor in decision-making, not all helmets are created equal. Dr. Phil Martin added, “SHARP solves the challenge for consumers in identifying these distinctions, as price alone does not serve as an indicator. Since its launch, helmet manufacturers and retailers have embraced the SHARP star rating system. We have confidence that they will demonstrate their continued enthusiasm for the scheme by participating in the process to update and expand it.”
As a social purpose enterprise, TRL operates the most advanced helmet impact test facility in the United Kingdom, conducting hundreds of motorbike helmet safety tests annually. They also manage the Road Accident In-Depth Studies (RAIDS) program for DfT, collecting detailed information about road traffic collisions, causes, and outcomes. This data underpins modern road vehicle safety standards and is essential for promoting road safety.
With a consistent commitment to key safety initiatives like NCAP and Euro-NCAP, which assign safety ratings for new cars, TRL plays a vital role in enhancing road safety. Their pivotal position in the SHARP program ensures its continued impact in safeguarding the lives of motorcyclists on UK roads.
In the past year, a total of 20,640 lives were lost in road accidents across the European Union, marking a 4% increase compared to the preceding year, as traffic volumes rebounded following the pandemic.
While it is important to acknowledge that the long-term trajectory reveals a slight decline of -9% when compared to the pre-pandemic year, this reduction is not occurring at a pace sufficient to attain the European Union’s goal of halving the number of road fatalities by the year 2030. Moreover, the progress achieved remains conspicuously disparate among Member States. Notably, Lithuania and Poland reported the most significant reductions, exceeding 30% between 2019 and 2022. Nonetheless, the fatality rate in Poland continues to surpass the European Union average. Conversely, in the last three years, the count of road fatalities in Ireland, Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Slovakia, and Sweden has either remained stagnant or exhibited an upward trend.
The overall ranking of countries based on their fatality rates has exhibited minimal change since the pre-pandemic era, with the safest roads persisting in Sweden (with 22 fatalities per one million inhabitants) and Denmark (26 per million), while Romania (86 per million) and Bulgaria (78 per million) reported the highest fatality rates in 2022. The European Union’s average fatality rate in 2022 stood at 46 road deaths per one million inhabitants.
The data released by the European Commission provides a comprehensive overview of road fatalities for the year 2022, building upon the preliminary information disclosed in February 2023.
Estimates for the Year 2023:
Preliminary statistics for the initial six months of 2023 suggest a slight reduction in road fatalities across the European Union, in contrast to the same period in 2022. Several Member States, including Belgium, France, Slovakia, and Finland, have reported significant declines. Conversely, certain countries, such as Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal, and Sweden, have witnessed substantial increases thus far. Given the inherent monthly fluctuations, making a precise projection for the entire year remains challenging.
In Italy, significant road safety reforms have passed in Italian Parliament following approval by the Council of Ministers. These reforms encompass several key changes, including the following:
Drink and Drug Driving: The blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limit for individuals previously convicted of drink-driving will be set at zero. Mandatory alcohol interlocks will be imposed on repeat offenders. A positive drug test will result in automatic license withdrawal, with no need to prove psychological impairment.
New Drivers: Italy currently applies a 70kW power limit for internal combustion engine cars for new drivers during their first year after they pass their test. An upcoming study will demonstrate the effectiveness of this measure in reducing accidents, injuries, and fatalities. The proposed reform will extend this restriction to three years.
E-Scooters: Helmets will become mandatory for riders of both private and shared scooters equipped with license plates. Additionally, insurance coverage will be obligatory. E-scooter circulation will be prohibited in extra-urban areas, and shared scooter operators will need to implement geo-blocking measures to prevent this. Furthermore, indicator lights and front and rear brakes will be compulsory.
Once considered the post-covid future of urban transport, pedestrians and other road users are now viewing the transport means unfavorably. Deemed a menace to city streets and a source of obstruction on sidewalks in cities including Rome and Milan, changes are ahead.
According to a draft of Italy’s transport code seen by Bloomberg, e-scooters will now need a registration plate and owners will need an insurance policy. In addition, of e-scooters sharing services, something that has seen rapid expansion, will also face authoritative restrictions.
Transport Minister, Matteo Salvini, has promised to address traffic violations from e-scooter users, who will furthermore be required to wear helmets. Manufacturers of e-scooters will also be required to fit turning indicators. The Italian media did initially report the introduction of license plates for bicycles, but this was not seen by Bloomberg.
It is not just Italy where e-scooter restraints are being aired. Many other European cities are airing complaints. This year, Paris residents voted to completely ban hiring services throughout the city.
According to data from Osservatorio Sharing Mobility, a state-backed sector association, over 45,000 rental scooters were present on Italian streets in 2021, reflective of their use as an alternative to public transport and the absence of cycling lanes in the larger cities.
Other proposed changes to the transport code include hardened measures for drunk driving, which includes a lifetime ban, and restrictions for those younger people who have only recently received their license.
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