More action needed on pedestrian deaths

Publication date: 20 February 2008

An automobile club survey highlights concerns over pedestrian crossings in Europe.

Europe's roads must be made safer for pedestrians, a new FIA Foundation backed study led by automobile clubs across ten countries has shown.

The EuroTest survey reveals that more action is needed to reduce deaths particularly on pedestrian crossings.

Norway has the worst record in terms of the safety of its pedestrian crossings with 3.7 deaths per million. It is followed by Italy (3.4) and Switzerland (3.0).

Overall, Spain has the highest rate of pedestrian fatalities with 15.7 deaths per million. Italy and the UK are next (11.5 deaths/million) followed by Austria (10.9) and Belgium (10.3).

The clubs carrying out the survey were: ÖAMTC, TCB, AL, ADAC, AA, ACI, ANWB, NAF, RACC and RACE, and TCS.

The study indicates that the safest roads for pedestrians are to be found in the Netherlands. Here, there are only 0.6 fatalities per million on pedestrian crossings and 4.0 per million on other parts of the road.

David Ward, Director General of the FIA Foundation said: "It is of the utmost importance that we do more to improve the safety of our roads for pedestrians. The elderly, children and other vulnerable road users are often the victims on pedestrian crossings. Safety standards must be raised across Europe."

The report recommends that: Europe's national and regional authorities should issue guidelines and tools for road designers to build safer pedestrian crossings; road traffic rules for drivers and pedestrians should be harmonised across Europe with special attention given to vulnerable road users; and the quality of data related to accidents on pedestrian crossings must be improved.