Half of the accident victims are recorded on extra-urban roads in Europe
03.28.2024
10,000 deaths in 2022
In the European Union, half of all road deaths – around 10,000 deaths in 2022 – occur on non-motorway extra-urban roads. Even in Italy, the highest number of deaths (48.5% of the total road victims in 2022) is concentrated on this type of road, which has a higher mortality rate (4.3 deaths per 100 accidents) compared to other road areas (3.5 motorways; 1.1 urban roads).
This is what emerges from Flash PIN Report 46 “Reducing road deaths on rural roads”, published today by the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC), an independent, non-profit organisation, based in Brussels, committed to reducing the number of deaths and injuries in the road transport sector in Europe.
According to the Report, extra-urban roads are more dangerous, as they often lack central and lateral barriers, and are traveled by very different vehicles in terms of weight and speed, ranging from trucks to the most vulnerable users, such as cyclists and pedestrians.
There are therefore four ETSC recommendations to make them safer:
installation of lateral and central barriers,
removal of obstacles along the roadside,
construction of separate routes for cyclists
construction of sidewalks for pedestrians.
“Extra-urban roads can be made safer with interventions that do not have to be expensive – commented Jenny Carson, co-author of the Report: checks on road safety, analysis and subsequent treatment of high-risk sites, definition and application of adequate safety limits speed, creating separate routes for cyclists and pedestrians, removing roadside obstacles. These are some examples of what can and should be done. With the growing focus on urban road safety, it is vital that policy makers let’s not forget the extra-urban roads, on which half of road deaths occur.”
The comparison between the European states analyzed in the study shows that speed remains an important risk factor: in many countries, a large number of drivers drive exceeding the indicated limit on extra-urban roads, despite the availability and reliability of automated control technologies, such as speed cameras and devices that detect average speed (tutors).
The study highlights that, although frequently seen as an urban road safety issue, around half of cycling deaths occur on rural roads, where cyclists travel alongside much heavier and faster traffic.
The use of e-bikes is also growing on these roads, often among older cyclists, a factor that local and national authorities should take adequately into consideration when planning investments.
Finally, ETSC hopes that the EU’s “eCall” automatic emergency call system – mandatory on all new cars – will be extended to other types of vehicles, in particular motorcycles.
In extra-urban areas, in fact, an eCall system capable of automatically sending location information to emergency services could save the lives of drivers or motorcyclists unable to call for help.