Seniors

Governments and administration need to do more to improve road safety. But, the statistics for road traffic accidents are still shocking. Around 90% of all road accidents are caused by human error. That means every year, about a million people die because of other people's mistakes, carelessness, or irresponsibility. So it makes you wonder, are we doing good enough for road safety? Safe Driving, aims to help and informing whole road users about every single issue in Road Traffic from A to Z.

Asociatia Drum Sigur analyzed and researched the following design errors:
- incorrect use of signs for yielding priority in intersections (Give Way and Stop signs) (error found in most countries of the world)
- the formulas used to calculate the length of acceleration/deceleration lanes at road junctions are incorrect (they do not take into account the impact of heavy vehicle traffic, as well as the volume of traffic flows) (error found worldwide)
- the use of staggered pedestrian crossings at traffic lighted intersections has negative effects on pedestrian traffic in most cases. (case analysis for all the staggered pedestrian crossings in Bucharest)
- identification of design and execution errors for T-type intersections, roundabouts, turbo-roundabouts or interchanges in some cities in Romania.
- analyzing some design errors on certain streets in Bucharest and proposing measures to improve road safety and traffic flow.

Our experience shows that most road accidents are caused by human error. Various analyses carried out by ALSA show that most road accidents are caused by inappropriate driver behaviour.
In order to manage road safety proactively, it is necessary to have a detailed and rigorous knowledge of the performance and behaviour of each driver in order to know their skills and behaviours, as well as to track their evolution over time.
To this end, ALSA has invested in technology in more than 3,700 vehicles in Spain that allows us to measure speeding, monitor various parameters that reflect driving style and detect various driver behaviours using innovative smart camera technology.
These smart cameras are based on "machine vision” and "artificial intelligence" (MV+IA) systems, which allow us to detect 40 types of driver behaviour and are particularly noteworthy for their innovation.
The data provided by the aforementioned technologies is used to calculate the risk profile of each driver. ALSA defines personalised actions for each driver: training, assignment to certain vehicles and routes, greater follow-up and monitoring, etc.
In addition, each driver has access to the data available on their own performance through an internal app (called "MiAlsa"). In this way, drivers can consult information on their own performance (consumption, driving styles, speeding, incidents, etc.).

The key objective is to improve the safety of learner drivers and provide a safe driving environment in which learners can practice safe driving skills. In primary research undertaken in 2018, 31% of Advanced Driving Instructors (ADIs) surveyed agreed that the Essential Driver Training programme (EDT) in Ireland did not provide a safe driving environment for learner drivers. Although it is illegal, driving unaccompanied is regularly done by a large percentage of learner drivers. As part of Phase 1 of the Road Safety Strategy (RSS) 2021-2024 a goal has been set to eliminate unaccompanied driving in Ireland by Q4 2024. The Behaviours and Attitudes Survey (2019) found 39% of learner drivers drive unaccompanied. In 2022, 5,929 learner drivers received penalty points for driving unaccompanied.

Ireland has a population of 5.5 million people, on average per year we have 11 fatalities and 45 serious injuries from road collisions with drivers pre-test (2007-2021 data). 80% of fatal collisions involved learner drivers who were driving unsupervised, while 75% of serious injury collisions involved unsupervised learner drivers. We know from research undertaken that collisions involving learner drivers reduce by 80% whilst accompanied. No one should die while learning to drive.

In the Netherlands cycling is the most important way of daily transportation. Sadly, over the past 10 years the amount of bicycle casualties in the Netherlands has increased by 40%, which is expected to increase even more by the popularity of the E-bike. In 2023, 71.000 cyclists were treated in hospitals (60% of all traffic casualties) with 12.500 having traumatic brain injury (16%). Traumatic brain injury often leads to permanent disability as neurons have no or just little recovery potential. A very simple and effective intervention is the voluntary promotion of bicycle helmet with estimated reduction of death 70% and brain injury by 60%. In Denmark, voluntary promotion of bicycle helmets has been very effective in reducing the amount of casualties, especially in children. When we started in 2022 with the first National Day of the bicycle helmet only 2% of the Dutch cyclists were wearing helmets.

From the first of September 2022, MKIF Magyar Koncessziós Infrastruktursa Fejlsztó Zrt took over the operation, maintenance and development of 1,237 km of existing Hungarian expressways.

When analyzing the accidents recorded by our traffic surveillance cameras on domestic expressways, we noticed that it is important to draw attention to traffic safety in our communication (keeping a following distance, observing the speed limit near work areas, protecting our colleagues, early education of children/young adults in safe traffic) and traffic -culture (littering, driving in an egoistic style that endangers others, early education of children/young adults on responsible driving).

The main road safety challenge that was tackled in this initiative is safety of the pedestrians and drivers on the main street of Põlva. The daily traffic volume on this road segment is high, with approximately 5000 vehicles, including trucks, passing through it every day. Simultaneously, high number of pedestrians use the same road daily to get to work or school. From a traffic safety perspective, this road segment is challenging – the hilly and winding road can distract drivers from speed limits, and the increased prevalence of light vehicles (bicycles, scooters etc) further amplifies the danger of this situation.
Smart Road is a vision of the future street, where all road users are equally preferred, and the emphasis is no longer solely on cars. Smart Road is designed to encourage drivers to objectively consider their traffic behaviour and to pay more attention to vulnerable road users. At the same time, the creators of Smart Road understand that vulnerable road users are indeed more difficult to notice, and effective solutions must be provided to assist drivers in focusing their attention on them.

Drivers encounter dangerous situations on the roads daily, arising from aggressive driving behavior. The project DriveArse (Czech: Nenechte se rozladit - Řitiči) indirectly built upon findings from the project Aggression Kills (Agresivita zabíjí by ČAP, BESIP) and systematically used them to create a positive solution in situations where a road user is confronted with aggression behind the wheel.

Previous research (Aggression Kills, ČAP, BESIP) indicate that aggressive driving causes up to 40% of fatal traffic accidents. Aggressive driving is dangerous not only for the drivers themselves but also for those around them. 7 out of 10 drivers admit that they are provoked into aggressive driving and change their own driving style. This is linked to the belief of 88% of Czech drivers in the increasing aggression behind the wheel. Almost 60% of drivers under 30 sometimes intentionally do not maintain a safe distance from the vehicle in front of them, and 20% of them purposely speed up when another car is trying to overtake them. At the same time, 87% of drivers are motivated by the considerate driving of others.

In the case of aggression behind the wheel, the current legislative support in the Czech Republic is rather general and does not contain precise definitions of aggressive behavior behind the wheel, its specific manifestations, or the exact penalties that may be imposed. The DriveArse campaign was therefore carried out together with the efforts of Platforma VIZE 0 for legislative changes, using experiences from selected EU countries where legislation defines what precisely aggression is and imposes specific sanctions.

This project comes up with a positive attitude and wit as a tool to deal with unpleasant situations on the road, while also functioning as a creative research. It presents manifestations of aggression through caricatures of aggressive drivers with creative names. In this way, it helps road users to recognise and name aggressive drivers, as well as not to be provoked by such aggressive drivers and to handle the situation with humour (for example with a rhyme or a funny remark).

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.

Low driving skills after completing driving school and driving exams. Weak evaluation on examine driving tests. Seasonal challenges, where after a winter period, when one starts to drive motorcycles again, the mind knows but body and muscular memory has forgotten vital survival skills. Motorcycle drivers tend to find themselves in an unexpected situations, where they do not know or do not remember how to survive sudden traffic situations. Especially at higher speeds.