Traffic Safety: Swedish Experiences in the area of infrastructure

Transcription

1 Traffic Safety: Swedish Experiences in the area of infrastructure Astrid Linder, PhD Research Director, Traffic Safety The Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute, VTI Traffic Safety Seminar, Alger, 30 October 2012

2 Content Traffic safety Vision Zero Some examples

3 Sweden Population: 9.5 million Main population around 3 largest cities

4 The current road transport system Major mismatch between components of the system Trade-off between health and benefits allowed Unclear accountability Unclear safety philosophy Weak driving forces for change What is the effect? More than 1,3 million fatalities (UN/WHO)

5 Road traffic death per inhabitant Source: WHO

6 Killed Serious Injuries 1/10 AU 12/1, SE 7/1 Minor Injuries 1/100 AU 120/1, SE 30/1 Source: Road Crash Costs in Australia 1999, Report 102, Bureau of Transport Economics (Insurance data) and Road Traffic Injuries in Sweden 1999, National Statistical Data (police reports)

7 Killed/milion inhabitans in EU 2010 Sweden UK Netherlands Malta Germany Ireland Denmark Finland Slovakia Spain Estonia Luxemburg France Italy Austria Slovenia Hungary Cyprus Check rep. Belgium Portugal Lithuania Latvia Poland Bulgaria Rumania Greece

8 Percentage changes Source: European Traffic Safety Council, ETSC

9 Traffic safety development

10 Fatalities in road crashes Road mortality (deaths/million pop.) 2010: : 33

11 Vision Zero forms a basis 1. One vision for many stakeholders 2. Ethical platform (right to survive) 3. Shared accountability 4. Safety philosophy (failing human) 5. Driving forces for change

12 Safety philosophy Inspiration from other areas ( i.e. occupational health and safety) People make errors, mistakes and misjudgements There are biomechanical tolerance limits The chain of events can be broken at different stages Focus on injuries - not crashes

13 Humans in the transport system People are not perfect - mistakes, misjudgements and misinterpretations must be absorbed That s why you can t put all accountability on the road user

14 Shared vision Vehicle/ Industry Road and regulation/ Governmental Agencies Road User/ Society

15 Probability of fatal injury for a pedestrian hit by a vehicle Source: OECD manual of Speed management (2006) About 9 out of 10 unprotected road users survive if hit by a car travelling at 30 km/h Less than 2 out of 10 unprotected road users survive if hit by a car travelling at 50 km/h

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17 Threats, Velocity and Height A pedestrian hit by a car travelling 50 km/h can be compared to a free fall of 10 meters If the speed of the car is 30 km/h it corresponds to a free fall of 3.5 meters mgh = mv2 2 v (km/h) h (m)

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20 ( km/h ) Safe conditions 70 Front to front 50 Side to front 30 Unprotected Road Users

21 Why is speed so important? The double attribute of speed The speed of a vehicle will influence both: the likelihood of a crash the injury severity

22 So what has happened? Some examples!

23 ROUNDABOUTS Intersection with problems Focus on crashes results in signals Focus on injuries results in roundabouts

24 Intersections to roundabouts

25 Controlling meeting traffic by centre guard rails

26 Separation of road users

27 Systematic traffic separation

28 Major through roads very hazardous

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30 RIGHT SPEED Vehicles, roads and speeds must match

31 COLLISION FOR SAFETY (Euro NCAP) Get everyone up to best practice by telling the public about safety differences Seat belt usage (driver): 88.3 % 1997, 97 % in 2011 Bicycle helmet usage: 16.1 % 1997, 31 % in 2011

32 Rearward facing child seat Up to 4-5 years

33 30 km/h in urban areas : Roads with a speed limit of 30 km/h has increased from 2150 km to 4440 km. Represents 10 % of all municipality roads

34 Traffic calming

35 Crash and injury data is a key element Since 2000, Sweden has been including hospital and police data in a national programme for traffic safety investigations. Not only traffic crashes but single collisions such as falls that contribute to road safety are also recorded. In Gothenburg ( ) have a total of people been injured in the road network. Only Police Reported 8255 Reported in Both databases 9660 Only Hospital Reported 3665 Fall injuries only reported to the hospital 2891

36 Crash Data Registrations Since 1992 Gothenburg has been registering crash location using Geographic Information System (GIS). GIS: Cartography and database technology merged Further Information Police: Crash reports Hospital: Injury report Traffic flow Speed

37 Killed Road User The importance of identifying road user involvement Killed in Gothenburg Traffic In Conflict with Single User Ped Cyclist Moped Car Truck Bus Tram Others Total Pedestrian Cyclist Moped MC Car Truck Bus Tram Total

38 Successes in Sweden The good traffic safety record in Sweden can be attributed to access to high quality information and cooperation Collect and analyse crash and injury data from all sources Many national (and international) forums to exchange information and experience Good dialogue between national and local governments

39 Steps in the process 1. Adopting an ambitious vision and development of a safe system approach 2. Setting interim targets 3. Analysis of data to understand crash risks and safety performance 4. Accelerating knowledge transfer 5. Investment in road safety 6. Foster commitment at top political levels

40 Thank you for your attention!

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