Germany

Blind and elderly people are higly vulnerable road users. While cooperating in the Hamburg Teststrecke für Autonomous and Vernetztes Fahren (TAVF), we experienced that their needs are hardly being addressed. Furthermore, projects addressing their needs never seem to go beyond a short project state. The "Routago" map for blind people has gone bankrupt, just like few manufacturerers of e-walkers (e. g. ello).
Blind people's only orientiation is limited to a 80 € cane without any sensors while cars are having lane changing systems, park assistants etc.

The DEKRA Road Safety Report examines persistent and emerging road safety challenges. These include high fatality rates among vulnerable road users, disparities in infrastructure safety, and limited adoption of advanced vehicle safety technologies. Human factors such as driver distraction, fatigue, and inadequate training, particularly in commercial transport, are also emphasized. Urban mobility, with its complex and mixed traffic environments, receives particular attention due to its increased risk.
In recent years, the report has addressed the impacts of automation, climate-related risks, and the safe transport of people and goods. Each edition focuses on a specific theme, such as commercial vehicle safety or child protection, offering targeted analyses supported by data, accident reconstructions, and policy recommendations. Through this approach, the report contributes to the EU’s Vision Zero objective and promotes the Safe System approach.

In 2022, 2.017 fatalities happened in the EU where cyclists have been involved representing 10% of all road fatalities.
More than 60% of all accidents between motor vehicles and bicycles occur when turning and crossing because bicycles are not illuminated from the side and the modern front and rear lights fitted emit a very focussed light that cannot be seen from the side.
The side reflectors, which are also mandatory, are only visible when they are illuminated.
For these reasons, both in bad weather and in the dark, bicycles are difficult or impossible to see from the side and are therefore often not noticed when they pass a car on the right-hand side, for example in front of traffic lights.
Bicycles are also difficult to recognise when crossing a road with oncoming traffic, as the multi-LED lights used on motor vehicles today shine much brighter than previous headlights.
Another problem is that car drivers do not keep the required minimum distance. Either because they are unable to judge the correct minimum distance or because they do not recognise bicycles in the dark.
Similarly, motorists are not made aware when they fall below the minimum distance and are therefore unable to react.
Intelligent, reactive lighting systems for bicycles are therefore needed in urban traffic to indicate to motorists the minimum distance to be maintained, warn them if the minimum distance is not observed and provide permanent side lighting for the bicycle.

From July 2024, stricter EU regulations (GSR II) will come into force for all newly registered trucks and buses. Most of these also apply to city buses. An important exception in GSR II is the emergency braking assistance system, which is not mandatory for buses with unprotected standing and seated passengers. For this type of city bus, ZF has developed a brake assistance system that reduces the consequences of a possible collision. It contains a braking cascade which starts with a first braking pulse which enables sufficient reaction time for standing passengers in order to prepare for the actual braking maneuver, for example by holding and/or a compensating step. The deceleration is then raised to a conservatively selected value which is still controllable for standing passengers and at the same time represents a satisfactory balance with the desired reduction in the vehicle speed and the reduction in the severity of the collision. The Collision Mitigation System (CMS) protects both passengers and vulnerable road users and enables a safer urban public transport.

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.

In today’s digital age, more and more data is collected every day in the field of transportation. Still, authorities solely rely on historical traffic accident data to detect black spots. This leads to the shortcoming that accidents must happen before measures are taken. Additionally, in relation to a specific location on the traffic network, traffic accidents are rare events. Thus, for credibly evaluating the safety of a road element, several years of traffic accident data are needed. As a result, road users are put at an unnecessary risk if measurements are taken too late. There is therefore an urgent need to take new paths in the field of road safety analysis. Our EDDA+ road hazard map detects potential dangers in road traffic at an early stage by combining existing safety-relevant data with new data sources.