Good practices

We are focusing on the most common causation factors of accidents/collsions on roads.

Pedestrians are one of the most vulnerable users of the urban environment, especially now with the new forms of travel that put them in danger: Personal Mobility Vehicles. The year 2023 ended in Spain with a balance of 118 pedestrian deaths. The most common type of accident they face is run over, which is more common in cities than on interurban roads.PROIN's Intelligent Pedestrian Crossing alerts drivers to the presence of a pedestrian in the vicinity of the crossing with the intention of crossing it. Our system is capable of detecting pedestrians at a distance of more than two hundred meters, simultaneously activating a set of vertical and horizontal warning signs for drivers. The vertical signage is made up of two high-brightness HI LED type signs that operate at slow flashing and minimum brightness while there are no pedestrians in the vicinity, increasing their intensity to the maximum when they detect the pedestrian. Horizontal signage delimits the passage through reflectors or LED plates, reinforcing the alert to drivers. It is a preventive, sustainable system with low energy consumption, improving mobility by reducing accident rates.

El desafío es implementar una iniciativa que permite mejorar y poner en práctica acciones que reduzcan los enclaves de concentración de accidentes, recogiendo el propósito de “Avanzar juntos hacia una movilidad segura”, compartiendo y comprometiéndonos a conseguir unos objetivos, desarrollando unas actividades que permite abordar con éxito el problema de la seguridad vial urbana en la Ciudad de Madrid, la segunda Ciudad Europea con mayor población.

Since 2017, the Croatian Automobile Club (HAK) has been implementing the educational and preventive program "KLIK - seat belt, a habit of responsible behavior" as part of the National Road Safety Plan of the Republic of Croatia, whose target group is senior high school students. The word “KLIK” is an acronym for “how to easily avoid a disaster” (in Croatian Kako Lako Izbjeći Katastrofu) and its pronunciation imitates the sound of buckling up.

Statistical data show that young people between the ages of 15 and 24 are one of the most vulnerable groups of road users in Croatia. In the Croatian National Road Safety Plan 2021-2030 it is visible that 28% of drivers who do not use seat belts are young drivers. This data significantly indicates the need for education of young people, which is done in the “KLIK” program.

We point out that in the Republic of Croatia, unlike the larger number of preschool and school children, the high school population has not yet been systematically covered by any projects within school curriculums in the field of road safety. This road safety program focuses on educating young people in order to achieve the Vision Zero, meaning our ultimate objective is to completely eliminate traffic fatalities and sever injuries on Croatian roads by 2050. It has been integrated into school curriculums, just like our other successful initiatives for elementary school students: “See and Click”, “Safe to School with HAK” and “Safe in Traffic”.

It is known that adolescents, in search of their identity and independence, are often inclined to disagree with adults and adopted rules of behavior under the pretext that their freedom is restricted. This life phase is characterized by the consolidation of knowledge and skills, the crystallization of attitudes and opinions and particularly rational mental maturation. The profile just described is one of the key reasons for risky behavior in traffic. The consequences are reflected in traffic accident statistics, where young people between the ages of 15 and 24 are one of the most vulnerable groups of road users. HAK conducts driving exams and the “KLIK” program is a perfect opportunity to reach young adults because of the need to address their values and behaviors prior to attending driving schools.

Vulnerable road users (VRUs), including pedestrians and cyclists face several significant road safety challenges, especially at the intersections and crosswalks. Poorly designed or marked crosswalks, inappropriate traffic light planning and lack of pedestrian priority measures contribute to higher risks. More particularly, many intersections do not give sufficient priority to pedestrian or cyclists. Short crossing times, lack of adequate pedestrian requests, lack of dedicated pedestrian phases, lack of information providing to the VRUs, and insufficient waiting areas at intersections increase the risk of accidents and put in jeopardy the safe crossing of the intersection. Examining the accidents in intersections has revealed that one of the situations with high accident risk is when a vehicle is performing a right turn at the intersection while a cyclist or pedestrian is crossing the road straight and is at the blind spot of the driver.
Furthermore, the approaching and crossing of an intersection by an emergency vehicle using only the alarm is a critical safety situation for different groups of road users. Firstly, emergency vehicles are facing critical and dangerous situations while getting to the emergency scene time, since drivers do not react immediately to make space and in front of red traffic lights, many drivers wait for "green" instead of carefully crossing the stop line and making room for it. In addition, the vulnerable road users could also be exposed to danger in this scenario. For example, a pedestrian may not be paying attention and hear the alarm too late or it could be a hearing impaired person.