DEKRA ROAD SAFETY REPORT 2016 - Passenger Transportation Accident Prevention Strategies on Europe's Roads

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DEKRA ROAD SAFETY REPORT 2016 - Passenger Transportation Accident Prevention Strategies on Europe's Roads
DEKRA Automobil GmbH

DEKRA ROAD SAFETY REPORT 2016
Passenger Transportation

Accident Prevention Strategies
on Europe‘s Roads

Accidents:             The human                 Vehicle
Acute risk of          factor:                   technology:
missing EU             Paying attention is the   Saving lives through
targets for 2020       best safety strategy      technical safety
DEKRA ROAD SAFETY REPORT 2016 - Passenger Transportation Accident Prevention Strategies on Europe's Roads
ACCIDENTS
           CAN BE
         AVOIDED
ON THE ROAD AT WORK AT HOME

 GLOBAL
PARTNER
                  FOR A

   SAFE
  WORLD
DEKRA ROAD SAFETY REPORT 2016 - Passenger Transportation Accident Prevention Strategies on Europe's Roads
Editorial

Tackling Challenges with Even More Focus
T  he number of road users killed or injured in
   the EU has been falling more or less continu-
ously over a long period. Over the past two years,
                                                            portant and recognized con-
                                                            tribution to enhancing road
                                                            safety, as do the numerous ac-
however, this positive downward trend seems to              cident research projects and
have stalled somewhat. Take Germany, for exam-              crash tests that DEKRA con-
ple: Here, the number of traffic fatalities in 2014 in-     ducts. And our accident ana-
creased on the previous year by 1.1% to 3,377. Ac-          lysts are regularly called upon
cording to provisional figures for 2015, as recorded        to investigate the causes of
by the German Federal Statistical Office, the 3,475         road accidents at the scene.
traffic fatalities point to an almost 3% increase on        Furthermore, our experts are
the previous year. Things don’t look much better in         highly valued by national and
France, either: Here, 3,384 traffic fatalities were re-     international committees as
corded in 2014 – a 3.5% increase on 2013. For 2015,         competent partners in dia-
the “Observatoire National Interministériel de la           log. Not to forget the numer-
Sécurité Routière” is forecasting a 2.4% increase in        ous publicity campaigns that
the number of traffic fatalities to 3,464. In Italy, too,   DEKRA regularly initiates.           Clemens Klinke, Member of the Board of Management
the number of traffic fatalities in 2015 is expected to                                          DEKRA SE, Head of Business Unit Automotive
be higher than in 2014.                                        Likewise, we consider the
                                                            annual DEKRA Road Safety Report – first published
   Given the EU’s strategic target of halving the           in 2008 – as yet another contribution to ensuring
number of traffic fatalities between 2010 and 2020,         that the number of people killed or injured on the
this is an alarming trend. Indeed, there’s an acute         EU’s roads, wherever possible, keeps falling. With
risk that this target will be missed. In light of the       this latest report, DEKRA is once again providing
successes already seen, it will undoubtedly become          food for thought, recommendations and advice for
ever harder to maintain the greatest possible year-         politicians, traffic and infrastructure experts, man-
on-year percentage reductions. All the more reason,         ufacturers, scientific institutions and associations, as
therefore, to urgently call upon all stakeholders to        well as all road users.
make every effort to reverse the trend and mirror the
successes of previous years. This challenge applies as          Where in previous years we devoted our efforts to,
much to vehicle technology as it does to infrastruc-        among other things, pedestrians and cyclists, rural
ture, road construction, legislation, traffic monitor-      roads, urban mobility and milestones especially in
ing, emergency services, road safety education and          the development of new vehicle technology and the
other preventive measures. The focus, however, must         resulting future potential, this time our focus is on
always be on people – after all, it is people who, as       passenger transportation. One of our key focuses is
road users, will always be vulnerable to hazards. That      the car – after all, cars still account for by far the big-
said, people can also help themselves to avoid haz-         gest proportion of our means of individual mobility.
ards through their own behavior and so make an ex-          At the same time, car drivers constitute the road user
tremely important contribution to road safety.              group most frequently involved in accidents with ca-
                                                            sualties: In Germany in 2014, the figure was 63.5%. It
   Through its various activities, DEKRA, too, is           is precisely here that we need to act. In the following,
committed to road safety – for example, the regu-           DEKRA will discuss in detail what it considers to be
lar vehicle inspections that we perform make an im-         the central spheres of activity.

                                                                                                                                                2|3
DEKRA ROAD SAFETY REPORT 2016 - Passenger Transportation Accident Prevention Strategies on Europe's Roads
Contents

                                       Editorial        3      Tackling Challenges with Even More Focus
                                                               Clemens Klinke, Member of the Board of Management DEKRA SE, Head of Business
                                                               Unit Automotive

                                       Greeting         5      A Safe Road to Future Mobility
                                                               Alexander Dobrindt (MdB), German Federal Minister of Transport and Digital
                                                               Infrastructure
                                  Introduction          6      Safely into the Future
                                                               The majority of traffic can still be found on our roads, a fact driven by not only
                                                               economic globalization but also increasing mobility in both our professional and
                                                               private lives. But mobility has its price – traffic jams, exhaust emissions, noise and
                                                               accidents with material damage and sometimes serious personal injury. This is why
                                                               an integral approach is so urgently required for making road traffic better and safer.
                                      Accidents       16       Acute Risk of Missing EU Targets for 2020
                                                               When it comes to road accidents with casualties, car occupants account for the
                                                               highest number of fatalities and injuries. In Germany alone in 2014, almost 50% of
                                                               all people killed on the roads were occupants of a car; among those suffering minor
                                                               and serious injuries, this figure was more than 55%.
                  Examples of Accidents/              30       Compelling Examples of Accidents in Detail
                              Crash Tests                      Eight selected incidents

                            The Human Factor          36       Paying Attention Is the Best Safety Strategy
                                                               Whatever mode of transport you use, road accidents generally have multiple caus-
                                                               es – above all, excessive speed, inattention or alcohol. The person at the wheel is
                                                               the biggest risk factor, which is why our attention must also be focused on people
                                                               if we want to make our roads even safer.
                        Vehicle Technology            46       Saving Lives Through Technical Safety
                                                               The EU Commission’s objective is to have next to no more traffic fatalities on Europe’s
                                                               roads by 2050. To achieve this goal, the focus needs to be on not only driver assis-
                                                               tance systems such as ESP but also, increasingly, the next levels, that is, automated
                                                               driving systems
                                 Infrastructure       58       Well-Maintained Roads Are Key
                                                               In addition to in-vehicle passive, active and integral safety systems, compliance with
                                                               traffic rules and correct behavior on the roads, the infrastructure also makes a key
                                                               contribution to road safety.
                                     Summary          64       A Clear Goal: Let’s Get Back onto the Road to Success
                                                               Although the risk of suffering fatal or serious injuries in passenger transportation has
                                                               decreased significantly over the past few decades in nearly every EU member state,
                                                               we must not rest on our laurels when it comes to the efforts to improve road safety
                                                               even further. As this report has demonstrated in the preceding chapters, action still
                                                               needs to be taken in a number of areas.
                                       Contacts       66       Any Questions?
                                                               Contacts and bibliography for the DEKRA Road Safety Report 2016

                The new web portal                             Since 2008, DEKRA has been publishing the annual European Road Safety Report
                                                               in printed form in several languages. Coinciding with the publication of the DEKRA
           www.dekra-roadsafety.com                            Road Safety Report 2016, the new web portal www.dekra-roadsafety.com is also
                                                               going online. In this portal, not only can you find more detailed information on the
                                                               content of the printed report (e.g. in the form of moving images or interactive graph-
                                                               ics) but it also covers a range of other topics and DEKRA activities concerning road
                                                               safety. When reading the printed version on your tablet or smartphone, you can call
                                                               up the web portal directly using the QR codes.
                                                                  Scan the codes using an ordinary QR code reader and you will be taken directly
                                                               to the corresponding content.

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DEKRA ROAD SAFETY REPORT 2016 - Passenger Transportation Accident Prevention Strategies on Europe's Roads
Greeting

A Safe Road to Future Mobility
A    recent McKinsey study shows that Germany is
     the world leader in mobility. Nowhere else in
the world are goods and people transported more
                                                          reducing risk situations. In
                                                          addition, we are support-
                                                          ing the market penetration
effectively than right here. This is the foundation of    of innovations such as the
our prosperity and the basis for unlimited freedom        turning assistant for trucks
through individual mobility.                              and the eCall system. Fur-
                                                          thermore, on the A9 in Ba-
All of this requires a high-performance infrastruc-       varia, we have launched the
ture and safety on the roads, to which independent       “Digitales Testfeld Autobahn”
testing organizations make an essential contribu-         project, a collaboration with
tion. They guarantee the safety of progress in mo-        the automotive industry and
bility in Germany and help to ensure the smooth           digital economy aimed at
flow of traffic on our roads.                             promoting automated and
                                                          networked driving and, in
Our goal is a 40% reduction in the number of traffic      so doing, paving the way for
fatalities by 2020. The figures prove that we are on      a whole new quality of road Alexander Dobrindt (MdB), German Federal Minister of
the right track, with fewer accidents occurring de-       safety. To encourage more Transport and Digital Infrastructure
spite greater mobility and more traffic. Overall, the     conscientious mobility, we
number of accident fatalities since 2011 has already      are also investing record
fallen by 16%. This is testament not least to the suc-    sums in educational campaigns alerting people to
cess of our road safety program and other measures        the dangers of excessive speed, inattention at the
such as accompanied driving at the age of 17.             wheel or the importance of wearing a helmet when
                                                          riding a bicycle or motorcycle.
We want to build on this positive trend by imple-
menting safety measures on our roads, providing          Road safety is a joint task for politicians, road safe-
information and educational advertising and mak-         ty organizations and society as a whole. Through
ing the jump to Mobility 4.0. To achieve this, we        close collaboration, we can successfully build on
will be increasing our investment in infrastructure      the trend toward greater mobility and fewer acci-
in the second half of the road safety program to a       dents. DEKRA and its Road Safety Report are key
record level of around €14 billion in 2018. We are       fellow travelers on this journey.
also pursuing targeted strategies such as the cam-
paign against heat blow-ups aimed specifically at        Safe driving!

                                                                                                                                        4|5
DEKRA ROAD SAFETY REPORT 2016 - Passenger Transportation Accident Prevention Strategies on Europe's Roads
Introduction

       Safely into the Future
       The majority of traffic can still be found on our roads, a fact driven by not only globalization of the manufacturing econo-
       my but also increasing mobility in both our professional and private lives. But mobility has its price – traffic jams, exhaust
       emissions, noise and accidents with material damage and sometimes serious – even fatal – injury. This is why an integral
       approach is so urgently required for making road traffic better and safer. Automated driving and Mobility 4.0 can help to
       lay important foundations for this.

                               W      hether by car, motorcycle, moped, pedelec,
                                      bicycle, public transport – buses, trains and
                               airplanes – or on foot, “passenger transportation”
                                                                                               For decades, cars have accounted for by far the
                                                                                            highest amount of passenger kilometers traveled
                                                                                            by any mode of transport. This is shown by, among
                               is nothing more than a general term referring to             other things, the most recent figures published by
                               the conveyance of persons from A to B, encom-                the Statistical Office of the European Union (Eu-
                               passing the technical, technological, organiza-              rostat) from 2012 (Figure 1). During the year in
                               tional and economic conditions of the mobility of            question, passenger cars accounted for 83.3% of
                               people and of the people themselves.                         all inland passenger transport in the EU-28; bus-

       Milestones in passenger transportation
        1662 The world’s          1839 The first     1863 The            1881 The world’s first electric
        first horse-drawn         horse-drawn        world’s first       streetcar enters service in Berlin.
        omnibuses (“car-          streetcar enters   underground
        rosses à cinq sols”)      service in Eu-     railway opens
        enter service in          rope between       in London.
        Paris, although           Montbrison
                                                                                                                   1886 The German inventor Carl
        they are taken out        and Montrond
                                                                                                                   Benz files the “Benz Patent-Motor-
        of service again          in France.
                                                                                                                   wagen Number 1”, heralding the
        after just a few
                                                                                                                   age of the modern internal combus-
        years.
                                                                                                                   tion engine automobile.

1650       |       |      180 0        |       |     1850     |      |        |       |       1860         |   |      |     |      1870        |        |
DEKRA ROAD SAFETY REPORT 2016 - Passenger Transportation Accident Prevention Strategies on Europe's Roads
es, coaches and trolley buses 9.2%; and trains 7.4%.          1     Importance of selected forms of transport
    Between 2002 and 2012, car usage increased sig-               In all EU member states, passenger cars account for by far the biggest proportion of inland passenger transport.
    nificantly in many states that joined the EU in                                                                 2002                                             2012
    2004 and 2007 – in Bulgaria, for example, car us-                                                  Cars        Buses*            Trains             Cars        Buses*            Trains
    age rose by more than 30%. In contrast, the relative           EU-28                               83.6           9.6               6.8             83.3           9.2               7.4
    importance of the car as a mode of inland passen-              Austria3)                           79.4          10.9               9.7             78.5          10.0              11.5
    ger transport fell in eight of the old EU-15 mem-              Belgium2)                           82.3          11.4               6.3             80.4          12.4               7.1
    ber states. Between 2002 and 2012, this trend was              Bulgaria                            61.2          33.4               5.4             80.1          16.9               3.0
    most clearly observed in Italy (minus 5.3%), Lux-              Croatia                             82.2          13.3               4.5             85.8          10.7               3.5
    embourg (minus 3.3%) and the United Kingdom                    Cyprus                              77.4          22.6                 –             81.3          18.7                 –
    (minus 2.8%). But in the three biggest EU member               Czech Republic2)                    79.1          18.7               7.5             74.8          16.8               8.4
    states – Germany, Spain and France – the relative              Denmark                             79.1          11.7               9.2             80.2           9.7              10.1
    importance of the car also fell, even if only margin-          Estonia                             71.7          26.5               1.8             83.6          14.6               1.8
    ally by an average of around 1.5%.                             Finland                             84.1          11.1               4.8             84.9           9.8               5.3
                                                                   France                              86.4           5.0               8.7             85.1           5.4               9.5
    MAJORITY OF JOURNEYS                                           Germany                             86.2           6.7               7.1             85.4           5.7               9.0
    MADE BY CAR                                                    Greece                              75.1          23.0               1.9             81.6          17.7               0.7
                                                                   Hungary2)                           61.1          25.0              13.9             67.7          22.2              10.1
    A person’s choice of transport depends on a num-               Ireland                             81.0          15.6               3.5             82.8          14.4               2.8
    ber of factors – for example, on the purpose of the            Italy                               83.3          11.1               5.6             78.9          15.0               6.1
    journey, age and personal finances. According to               Latvia                              76.6          18.6               4.8             76.9          18.3               4.8
    the statistical compendium “Transport in Figures               Lithuania                           82.0          15.4               2.5             91.0           8.2               0.8
    2014/15”, which is compiled by the German Insti-
                                                                   Luxembourg                          85.7          10.5               3.9             83.0          12.4               4.6
    tute for Economic Research and published by the
                                                                   Malta                               79.4          20.6                 –             82.5          17.5                 –
    Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infra-
                                                                   Netherlands                         86.4           4.3               9.3             88.2           3.0               8.8
    structure (BMVI), more than 1.13 trillion passen-
                                                                   Poland4)                            77.0          13.5               9.5             84.6          10.7               4.8
    ger kilometers were covered in Germany in 2012.
                                                                   Portugal4)                          84.9          10.9               4.3             89.3           6.6               4.1
    Of these, 915 billion were by motorized individual
                                                                   Romania4)                           75.8          12.3              11.9             82.2          12.9               4.9
    transport – and here, above all, by car. Recreation-
                                                                   Slovakia                            66.8          26.0               7.2             77.8          15.1               7.1
    al and vacation trips accounted for around 40% of
                                                                   Slovenia                            83.9          13.2               3.0             86.7          11.1               2.3
    these journeys (see also Figures 2 to 4). As the 2008
                                                                   Spain                               82.5          12.3               5.2             80.7          13.7               5.6
    “Mobility in Germany” survey revealed, an “aver-
                                                                   Sweden2)                            84.0           8.2               7.8             84.3           6.7               9.1
    age person” takes 3.4 trips every day, covering a to-
                                                                   United Kingdom4)                    88.4           6.4               5.2             86.0           5.8               8.2
    tal of 39 kilometers, and with the average single trip
                                                                   Iceland                             88.6          11.4                 –             88.5          11.5                 –
    covering almost 12 kilometers. Around 88% of all
                                                                   Norway                              89.0           6.9               4.1             89.7           5.6               4.7
    business trips and 70% of all journeys to work are
                                                                   Switzerland                         80.1           5.1              14.8             77.7           5.1              17.2
    taken by car or some form of motorized two-wheel-
                                                                   FYR Macedonia                       81.3          16.7               1.9             77.8          20.7               1.5
    er. Big differences can be observed in a person’s
                                                                   Turkey2)                            49.0          47.8               3.1             61.6          36.6               1.7
    choice of transport depending on whether they live             *
                                                                    Transit buses, coaches and trolley buses. 1) Not including motorized two-wheelers. 2) Passenger cars: break in series.
    in an urban area or in the country: Motorized indi-            3)
                                                                      The railway in Liechtenstein is owned and operated by the Austrian ÖBB and is included in its statistics.
    vidual transport has for years accounted for almost
                                                                   4)
                                                                      Buses: break in series.                                                                               Data source: Eurostat

    1895 First reg-                                1900 The                 1902 The German                                   1907 In Offenbach,                         1912 The first
    ular service in                                Paris Métro              inventor Otto Schulze                             Germany, segregated                        electric traffic
    Germany with a                                 opens during             develops the eddy-cur-                            cycle facilities are                       signal with red
    fuel-driven bus                                the World’s              rent tachometer for                               constructed along the                      and green lights
    between Siegen                                 Fair.                    road vehicles and has it                          “Offenbacher Alleen-                       is installed in
    and Netphen.                                                            patented in Berlin. Au-                           ring”. It is the oldest                    Salt Lake City,
                                                                            tomobile manufacturers                            existing cycle path in                     Utah.
                                                                            install speedometers as                           Germany.
                                                                            standard from 1910.

|    |      1880         |      |       |      |       1890             |        |            |            |            190 0                |            |            |            |               1910

                                                                                                                                                                                            6|7
DEKRA ROAD SAFETY REPORT 2016 - Passenger Transportation Accident Prevention Strategies on Europe's Roads
Introduction

                                                                      50% of all traffic in urban areas; in rural areas, how-                                              ture. At a detailed level, the individual studies and
                                                                      ever, this figure is more than 60%. In urban areas,                                                  underlying assumptions contain significant differ-
                                                                      public transport networks are often much better                                                      ences, for example in terms of trends in transpor-
                                                                      developed and are used for around 15% of all trips,                                                  tation, technical progress as well as the social and
                                                                      three times more than in rural regions, where only                                                   economic framework. But one thing they all large-
                                                                      5% of trips are made by public transport.                                                            ly agree upon is that the role of motorized passen-
                                                                                                                                                                           ger transportation will continue to grow, if not
                                                                      ROLE OF MOTORIZED PASSENGER                                                                          quite as quickly as in the past. The latest Shell Pas-
                                                                      TRANSPORTATION CONTINUES TO GROW                                                                     senger Car Scenario 2014, for example, expects the
                                                                                                                                                                           proportion of motorized individual transport in
                                                                      Numerous studies published over the past few                                                         the overall share of land-based modes of transport
                                                                      years have focused on the traffic trends of the fu-                                                  to remain at the current level in the future, as well.

                                                                                                                                                                              The German Ministry of Transport, too, has
  2                                                                                                                                                                        created a new traffic forecast as part of the Federal
                 Total distance traveled by vehicle type                                                                                                                   Transport Infrastructure Plan for 2015. According
                 Passenger cars account for by far the greatest distances traveled.                                                                                        to this, between 2010 and 2030 the use of motor-
                                    800                                                                                                                        726         ized passenger transportation is expected to in-
Billions of kilometers

                                    600 574
                                                                                                                                                                           crease by around 10% – despite the falling number
                                                                                                                                                                           of inhabitants. According to the forecast, the in-
                                                                                                                             Other motor vehicles1)
                                    400                                                                                      Trucks and semitrailer tractors               crease in car traffic can be primarily attributed to
                                                                                                                             Buses                                         the greater “automobility” of older people. The use
                                                                                                                             Cars and station wagons
                                    200
                                                                                                                             Mopeds and motorcycles                        of public road transport – including long-distance
                                                                                                                                                                           coaches – is expected to increase by 6%, the use
                                      0
                                           1991   1993    1995   1997       1999       2001        2003        2005        2007        2009       2011         2013        of rail transportation by around 19%. And with
                  Conventional tractors with semitrailers and special-purpose vehicles not designed for conveying loads; as of 2006, vehicles with a specific function
                 1)                                                                                                                                                        growth of around 65%, air traffic remains a strong
                 (e.g. motor homes, ambulances) are counted as passenger cars.           Data source: BMVI (Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure)      growth industry.

  3                                                                                                                                                                        4
                 Proportion of people-carrying modes of transport                                                                                                              Purposes of travel in 2012
                 The number of passenger kilometers traveled increased by almost 30% between 1991 and 2013.                                                                    More than 40% of travel is for vacation and leisure purposes.

                                                                                                                                                                                                43+22+16145s
                                   1,200                                                                                                                       1,141
Billions of passenger kilometers

                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Accompanying
                                   1,000                                                                                                                                                                         trips
                                            875
                                                                                                                                                                                              Business            4,9
                                    800                                                                                                                                                                                                 Vacation
                                                                                                                                                                                                         14,2
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        and leisure
                                    600
                                                                                                                      Air2)                                                                                        Total:        42,8
                                    400                                                                               Rail                                                                                      1,206 billion
                                                                                                                      Public road transport                                              Shopping   16,1           pkm*
                                    200                                                                               Motorized individual transport1)

                                      0                                                                                                                                                                                                         * Passenger
                                           1991   1993   1995    1997      1999        2001        2003        2005       2007        2009        2011         2013                           Travel to         21,9
                                                                                                                                                                                              work/training                                      kilometers
                 1)
                    Motorized individual transport: New methodology introduced in 1994, resulting in higher transport volume.
                 2)
                    Air traffic: New survey method introduced in 2010.                                                                             Data source: BMVI                                                                      Data source: BMVI

                                           1921 Engineers work-                                                                                                            1933 Europe’s first                                  1937 The Berlin-
                                           ing for the Radio Air                                                                                                           pedestrian light is                                  based manufacturer
                                           Service at the McCook                                                                                                           installed in Copen-                                  Gaubschat unveils
                                           aviation experimenta-                                                                                                           hagen, Denmark.                                      a passenger road
                                           tion station in Dayton,                                                                                                         Pedestrian lights                                    train with corridor
                                           Ohio, unveil to the                                                                                                             do not appear                                        connection.
                                           public the first driver-                                                                                                        in Germany until
                                           less, radio-controlled                                                                                                          1937 (Berlin).
                                           car.

1920                                                 |            |                      |                     |                     1930                              |             |                   |                |                1940
DEKRA ROAD SAFETY REPORT 2016 - Passenger Transportation Accident Prevention Strategies on Europe's Roads
In other EU member states such as Italy, the use
of motorized passenger transportation is also like-
ly to increase. A study published in Rome in May
2015 by the social research institute Censis (Cen-
tro Studi Investimenti Sociali) and the association              Violeta Bulc
of car rental companies ANIASA (Associazione                     European Commissioner for Transport
Nazionale Industria dell’Autonoleggio e Servizi
Automobilistici) came to the conclusion that the               Harmonization of technical standards and promotion
number of people using cars will increase by al-               of new technologies
most 10% between 2010 and 2030.
                                                               While road safety is a real Europe-         prevent crashes linked to technical
                                                               an success story, we are still losing       failure.
MORE TRAFFIC                                                   70 lives on our roads every day.              Promoting the use of new tech-
                                                               This is hard to accept, and there are       nologies, which can compensate
FATALITIES IN 2015                                             a lot of things we can do to prevent        errors and distraction or prevent
                                                               road crashes or in some cases at            offences, is also a priority. We en-
Given that road haulage transport, too, is set to in-
                                                               least to limit their consequences.          courage car manufactures to com-
crease significantly – according to the BMVI, by                  The European road safety poli-           mit to their deployment by work-
39% between 2010 and 2013 in Germany alone –                   cy is inspired by the ‘safe system’         ing on the definition of standards
the high volume of traffic will continue to consti-            approach. This includes infrastruc-         and certification procedures. The
tute a major challenge particularly with regard to             ture design, such as “forgiving             most cost-effective safety systems
road safety. That much is clear when you look at the           roads”, as much as the safety of            should be adopted as standard
                                                               vehicles.                                   vehicle equipment. The reviewed
accident statistics for Germany in 2015. Accord-
                                                                  As far as the safety of vehicles is      general safety regulation for
ing to preliminary figures released by the Federal             concerned, harmonising technical            type-approval will be an efficient
Statistical Office of Germany, the total number of             standards at European level has a           legal instrument in setting the
accidents in which people were either injured or               great impact on road safety. We             mandatory safety equipment for
killed was 305,900 – a 1.1% increase on 2014. For              are working now on the implemen-            vehicles registered within the EU.
                                                               tation of the recent roadworthiness           Road safety is indeed our com-
the second time in succession, the number of traf-
                                                               legislation, introducing tougher            mon business and, together, we
fic fatalities has also increased, this time to 3,475          rules on vehicle testing in order to        can do better!
– a 2.9% increase on 2014, when 3,377 traffic fatal-
ities were recorded.
                                                             This overall negative trend can be seen else-
   As the current figures for January to Novem-           where, too, not just in Germany. The initial prelim-
ber 2015 show, the trends in the number of traffic        inary figures from France do not look promising,
fatalities in the various road user groups in Ger-        either. For 2015, the “Observatoire National Inter-
many varied considerably. As the Federal Statisti-        ministériel de la Sécurité Routière” (ONISR) fore-
cal Office of Germany reports, more car occupants         casts a 2.4% rise in the number of traffic fatalities
(+ 61), more riders and passengers of officially li-      to 3,464 – with 2014 already seeing a 3.5% rise. The
censed motorcycles (+ 41) and more pedestrians (+         primary cause of 25% of fatal accidents was found
27) died compared with the first eleven months of         to be excessive speed, with alcohol and drugs play-
the previous year. In contrast, fewer people died         ing a role in another 25%. And, mirroring trends in
on insurance-licensed motorcycles (– 21) and on           Germany, 2015 saw significantly more people die in
bicycles, including pedelecs (– 26).                      France as occupants of cars (+ 8%).

 1938 In May, the US magazine             1951 The general in-                  1952 Kässbohrer Fahr-                 1954 A medical-psycho-
 “Popular Science” publishes the          spection is introduced                zeugwerke unveils the                 logical assessment (MPA)
 first ever report on automated           for motor vehicles in                 first modern articulated              is introduced in Germany
 traffic of the future. It presents a     Germany. The general                  bus with a wide corridor              to assess a person’s
 vision of a world in which all cars      inspection is designed                between the front and                 fitness for driving.
 follow electric cables that are          to ensure that the num-               rear carriage.
 buried beneath the pavements of          ber of vehicles on the
 superhighways and emit electro-          road with technical
 magnetic impulses that control the       safety defects is kept to
 speed and direction of travel.           a minimum.

    |               |               |        |               1950                |              |                |             |             1960

                                                                                                                                          8|9
DEKRA ROAD SAFETY REPORT 2016 - Passenger Transportation Accident Prevention Strategies on Europe's Roads
Introduction

                                                                                         frastructure), these technologies can also help to
                                                                                         further reduce the number of accident-critical sit-
                                                                                         uations and, in turn, the number of serious acci-
                                                                                         dents resulting in death and serious injury.

                                                                                            Already today, some vehicles are semi-auto-
                                                                                         mated and networked. In the future, the number
                                                                                         of vehicles featuring automated driving and net-
                                                                                         working functions will increase significantly. For
                                                                                         road traffic, a number of digital “test fields” are
                                                                                         currently being set up in Germany. One of these
                                                                                         is a stretch of A9 Autobahn in Bavaria (“Auto-
                                                                                         bahn 4.0”), on which partial and highly automat-
                                                                                         ed driving – and, looking ahead, even fully auto-
                                                                                         matic driving from time to time – is to be trialled.

                                                                                             Important discussions and a diverse range of
   In 2015, German police                                                                research projects are currently taking place in the
recorded around 2.5 million       AUTOMATED DRIVING OFFERS REAL                          field of automated driving. Journalists are reporting
accidents. The number of          POTENTIAL FOR PREVENTING ACCIDENTS                     almost every day on “autonomous vehicles.” De-
accidents resulting in physical                                                          pending on one’s existing knowledge, however, the
injury rose by 1.1% compared      Against this background, the top priority must         terms are often blithely confused, leading to unre-
with 2014 to 305,900.             be to exploit every opportunity available to           alistic expectations among consumers. Experts are
                                  bring about a further reduction in the number of       now calling for the term “autonomous” (i.e. self-de-
                                  road accidents and casualties. Modern vehicles         termined, self-reliant, independent) to be dropped
                                  equipped with ever more advanced assistance sys-       in reference to ongoing vehicle automation.
                                  tems and functions are already playing an import-
                                  ant role. Accident researchers at the Allianz Center   DIFFERENT LEVELS OF
                                  for Technology (AZT) have established, for exam-       AUTOMATED DRIVING
                                  ple, that the number of accident-critical situations
                                  could be reduced by 32 to 82% if adaptive cruise       For a more effective classification of past, current
                                  control (ACC) and forward collision warning            and future developments, the companies that col-
                                  (FCW) were activated in 51% of cars on highways.       laborate within the framework of the German As-
                                  On rural roads and in urban areas, too, such sys-      sociation of the Automotive Industry have devel-
                                  tems could help to cut the number of accidents by      oped a six-level system. This classification describes
                                  an impressive 32 to 45%. Mobility 4.0 key technol-     which tasks the vehicle assumes with its assistance
                                  ogies play an important complementary role here,       systems and which are executed by the driver and/
                                  too. Thanks to intelligent infrastructure and the      or what requirements are placed on the driver.
                                  networking of vehicles to facilitate communication
                                  either between cars (car-to-car) or from cars to          Level 0 describes permanent driving without
                                  centralized and decentralized systems (car-to-in-      actively intervening assistance systems. Here, the

          1961 The inspection         1966 On February 1, the German TV           1968 In London,     1968 The US Department of Transportation
          tag is introduced in        broadcaster ARD starts broadcasting         the Victoria Line   (DOT) launches a program for the development
          Germany as verifi-          the series “Der 7. Sinn” [The 7th Sense].   enters service as   of experimental safety vehicles and, via its
          cation that a vehi-         Once a week, in a prime-time slot just      the world’s first   subordinate National Highway Traffic Safety
          cle has passed its          before the main news, aspects relating      fully automatic,    Administration (NHTSA), initiates the interna-
          general inspection.         to road safety, rules of conduct and tips   computer-con-       tional “Technical Conference on Experimental
                                      for car drivers and adult road users are    trolled under-      Safety Vehicles” (today, “Enhanced Safety of
                                      presented are vividly presented. The last   ground railway      Vehicles” (ESV)). The conference continues to
                                      episode, for the time being, is broadcast   line.               take place every two years at different venues
                                      in December 2005.                                               all over the world.

1960                 |            |          |             |            1965        |            |           |            |            1970
driver assumes full responsibility for driving the
vehicle, whether straight ahead or to the left or
right. At level 1, the driver is supported by active
systems that drive the vehicle straight ahead or              Melanie Schultz van Haegen-Maas Geesteranus
steer it to the left or right. If adaptive cruise control     Minister of Infrastructure and the Environment of
regulates the speed and distance from the vehicle             the Netherlands
ahead, for example, the driver remains responsible
for steering. However, the driver must be able to            Promotion of intelligent mobility solutions
intervene in straight-ahead driving in critical situ-        Innovations in the field of mobili-     have called for a change in Dutch
ations in order to execute, for example, emergency           ty – even if they seem so promising     law to allow manufacturers to per-
braking. Conversely, active park assist can help to          – often have a hard time winning        form comprehensive testing of their
steer the car during parking, with the driver only           recognition. “If I had asked peo-       self-driving cars on public roads.
having to operate the gas and brake pedal.                   ple what they wanted, they would        We are collaborating with the in-
                                                             have said faster horses,” Henry         dustry according to the “learning
                                                             Ford once said. Fortunately, Ford       by doing” principle. In this way, I
   Level 2 describes partially automated driving,            followed his entrepreneurial insight    am seeking to create a productive
whereby the driver, in an appropriate situation,             and paved the way for journeys          environment in which innovations
hands over full control of straight-ahead driving            faster and longer than anyone had       are promoted.
and steering to the vehicle and its assistance sys-          ever dreamed of before.                    Furthermore, it should be possible
                                                                 Today, more than a century later,   to cross national borders with an in-
tems. However, the driver remains fully respon-
                                                             cars are much more comfortable,         telligent, self-driving car without the
sible for the vehicle. This means that they have             efficient and safer. Fundamentally,     system needing to be reprogrammed
to monitor the entire system at all times and in-            however, car driving has changed        to take account of technical or le-
tervene immediately if required by the situation,            little over time. The engine is still   gal differences. For this reason, I am
for example at low speeds on the highway when                the beating heart of any vehicle.       engaged in an ongoing dialog with
the traffic jam vehicle following function is active         But even that, too, is changing.        the industry and my European min-
                                                             I am confident that software will       isterial colleagues. We are current-
(highway traffic jam assist) or during semi-au-                                                      ly bound by international law from
                                                             one day replace the central role of
tomated parking with a system that controls not              the engine. This development will       the era of Henry Ford, which states
only the steering but also the drive and braking.            bring numerous benefits for society     that “[e]very driver shall at all times
                                                             as a whole – for example, by re-        be able to control his vehicle or to
   For the highly automated level 3, a system is             ducing traffic jams, improving the      guide his animals.” It’s clearly time
                                                             quality of life and enhancing road      for this to be revised.
required that assumes responsibility for straight-
                                                             safety. In a sense, you’ll be able to      If we asked car owners in Europe
ahead driving and steering and independently                 create a whole new car with a sim-      today what they wanted, perhaps
recognizes its functional limits at which the re-            ple software update.                    not everyone would respond with
quired environmental and other conditions are                    I consider it my job to promote     “a more intelligent car.” But I am
no longer ensured. It then prompts the driver to             the development of intelligent mo-      confident that self-driving cars will
take control. The driver does not have to monitor            bility solutions, which is why I        offer us unprecedented benefits.
the system constantly and can even devote their
attention to other, more demanding secondary
tasks. This is why it is important that the system
prompts the driver to take over the controls with
sufficient advance warning, giving them enough
time to safely take over the driving task.

1970 The “European Enhanced                                            1974 On January 1, three-point            1975 In Japan, Konuske
Vehicle-Safety Committee” (EEVC),                                      safety belts become mandatory             Matsushita, the founder
which focuses on preregulatory                                         in the Federal Republic of Ger-           of Panasonic, unveils an
research, is founded as a Euro-                                        many on the front seats of newly          e-bike.
pean counterpart to the US ESV                                         registered cars. The installation
program. The EEVC developed, for                                       of safety belts on the rear seats
example, the testing and inspection                                    of newly registered cars does not
procedure for occupant protection                                      become mandatory until May 1,
in front and side collisions and the                                   1979. On August 1, 1984, fines
component tests for pedestrian                                         are introduced for not wearing
protection.                                                            safety belts.

    |              |             |              |           1975             |              |              |             |              1980

                                                                                                                                  10 | 11
Introduction

                                  Assisted, partially and highly automated driv-            hicles shall have a driver.” Article 13 goes further:
                               ing at levels 1 to 3 has not only already been tech-         “Every driver of a vehicle shall in all circumstanc-
                               nically achieved, but is undergoing constant re-             es have his vehicle under control so as to be able to
                               finement and enhancement toward the fully                    exercise due and proper care and to be at all times
                               automatic level 4. Due to the “Vienna Conven-                in a position to perform all maneuvers required
                               tion on Road Traffic” from 1968, however, the le-            of him.” Driverless cars are, therefore, legally for-
                               gal framework conditions do not (yet) allow even             bidden. In March 2016, an internationally recog-
                               highly automated driving (level 3) under normal              nized revision of the text was published to take
                               traffic conditions. Article 8 stipulates the follow-         future account of highly and fully automated ve-
                               ing: “Every moving vehicle or combination of ve-             hicles (levels 3 and 4). According to this, systems

          Antonio Avenoso
          Executive Director of the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC)

        Has Intelligent Speed Assistance’s time finally come?
        For years, speed has been recognised            The technology has also been boosted             premium cars to the mass market, would
        as one of the three main contributing           by the increasing use of hardware on             take years longer than a regulatory ap-
        factors to deaths on our roads. And for         vehicles such as GPS, front facing cam-          proach.
        more than a decade, ETSC has been               eras and manual speed limiting systems              ISA has been trialled in many mem-
        advocating the benefits of Intelligent          which, effectively, can just be repro-           ber states, and while drivers take a short
        Speed Assistance (ISA), a driver assis-         grammed to add intelligent speed assis-          time to adjust to the technology, the ma-
        tance system that a 2014 Norwegian              tance as an option.                              jority appreciated it. One obvious ben-
        study found to be the ‘most effective’              This year, the European Commission           efit, as Ford has pointed out in a recent
        in saving lives. We are optimistic that         is expected to propose the next set of           marketing campaign, is that it helps driv-
        2016 could prove to be a turning point          mandatory vehicle safety standards for           ers avoid speeding tickets.
        in wide adoption of the technology.             the European market, and there are                  While much of the hype in the media
           ISA uses a speed sign-recognition vid-       promising signs that ISA will be includ-         these days is concerned with autono-
        eo camera and/or GPS-linked speed               ed. A report for the Commission by con-          mous vehicles, ETSC believes that policy-
        limit data to advise drivers of the current     sultants TRL earlier this year found ISA         makers should not focus their regulatory
        speed limit – and the most advanced             to be ‘feasible in terms of the technolo-        eyes too far in the future. Semi-automat-
        systems can automatically limit the             gy required’, already available on the           ed systems already available and ap-
        speed of the vehicle as needed (though          market and offering a positive bene-             proved for use have the potential to save
        the driver is still able to override the sys-   fit-cost ratio.                                  many lives today. They should make sure
        tem). The first vehicles with this kind of          The importance of the adoption of the        that ISA, together with other proven tech-
        ISA system factory fitted started appear-       technology cannot be underestimated.             nology such as Intelligent Speed Belt
        ing on the market this year – helped in         ISA is expected to reduce collisions by          Reminders and Automated Emergency
        part by Euro NCAP’s decision to reward          30% and deaths by 20%. But waiting               Braking, are fitted as standard as soon
        extra points for vehicles that include ISA.     for the technology to trickle down from          as possible.

   1980s General Motors                  1982 With his study of       1992 The “Contrôle            1995 Robert Bosch GmbH and Mercedes-Benz
   equips a number of its                the “Gelhard-E-Bike”,        Technique” – equivalent       introduce the electronic stability program
   models destined for                   Egon Gelhard lays the        to the general inspection     (ESP), a brake-based driver assistance system.
   the US market with a                  foundations for the          in Germany – becomes
   black-and-white head-                 pedelec principle.           mandatory for all newly       1995 “Vision Zero” is applied for the first time
   up display, which allows                                           registered vehicles in        to road traffic in Sweden (target: zero traffic
   drivers to see what                                                France.                       fatalities and zero serious injuries).
   speed they are driving
   at without having to take
   their eyes off the road.

1980               |               |               |              |              1985                |               |              |                  |
that influence the driving of a vehicle are permis-           5    Levels of automated driving
sible provided that they comply with the relevant                  Level 0             Level 1              Level 2                 Level 3                  Level 4              Level 5                                100%
internationally applicable legal regulations or they                                                         Semi-                   Highly                   Fully
can be deactivated or overridden by the driver.               Driver only             Assisted            automated               automated               automated            Driverless
                                                                  Driver has to       Driver has          Driver has to               Driver                 No driver             No driver
   Finally, level 5 means that the driverless vehi-                execute all        to execute           constantly             no longer has              required              required
                                                                  longitudinal       longitudinal          monitor the            to constantly            in a specific          from start
cle can travel from start to finish – even over very               and trans-       or transverse            system.               monitor the                 case.               to finish.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Degree of automation
long distances – on all road types, in all speed                  verse control    control maneu-                                    system.
                                                                   maneuvers.            vers.
ranges and under all environmental conditions.
                                                                                                                           Driver must be
Only then can a vehicle be described as truly au-                                                                       able to potentially
tonomous. Everyone in the car would simply be                                                                               take over the
                                                                                                                                controls.
passengers. This is equivalent to the “Google car”,
                                                                                                                           System has to
which received a huge amount of media attention                                                                         execute longitudinal                                     The system
and was originally designed without a steering                                                                             and transverse                                          assumes
wheel or pedals (Figures 5 and 6).                                                                           System      control maneuvers                                      responsibility
                                                                                                             has to      in a specific case*.                                  for all driving
                                                                                                            execute           It recognizes                                      tasks on all
CHANGING THE LEGAL                                                                                        longitudinal
                                                                                                           and trans-
                                                                                                                             system limits
                                                                                                                          and prompts the
                                                                                                                                                System
                                                                                                                                              can handle
                                                                                                                                                                                 road types,
                                                                                                                                                                                 in all speed
FRAMEWORK CONDITIONS                                                No active
                                                                                        System
                                                                                      takes over
                                                                                                          verse control driver to take over all situations
                                                                                                           maneuvers      the controls with automatically
                                                                                                                                                                                 ranges and
                                                                                                                                                                                   under all
                                                                  intervention        a different         in a specific sufficient advance in a specific                       environmental
The fact is that highly and fully automated driv-                    system.           function.             case*.             warning.        case*.                            conditions.                              0%
ing open up major potential for further reducing              *Cases here refers to road types, speed ranges and environmental conditions.         Source: VDA (German Association of the Automotive Industry)
the number of accidents and, in particular, the
number of killed or injured road users. Volvo, for
example, is pursuing its vision of zero deaths or
                                                              6
serious injuries in a new Volvo from 2020. And ac-                Classification of vehicle automation
cording to a forecast made by accident research-                  Technically speaking, automated driving up to level 4 is already feasible, but the legal framework conditions
ers at Daimler, by 2070 the number of accidents                   urgently need to be changed accordingly.
with casualties in which car drivers are mainly re-
                                                                                                 Technically viable / viable in the near future                                                                       Vision
sponsible could fall to almost zero. Even if it these
predictions might not turn into reality completely,
                                                                                                                                             Automated driving
they would entail further important steps toward

                                                                                                                                                                                      DEGREE OF AUTOMATION: 100%
“Vision Zero” – i.e. zero traffic fatalities and seri-
ous injuries. Of course, the legal framework con-                                                                          Semi-                 Highly              Fully                                         Autonomous
                                                                    Driver only         Assisted driving
ditions urgently need revising if this vision is to be               (level 0)              (level 1)                   automated              automated          automated                                          driving
                                                                                                                         (level 2)              (level 3)          (level 4)                                        (level 5)
realized. In addition to the aforementioned “Vien-
na Convention on Road Traffic”, further concrete
                                                                                                                 Vehicle with                                                                                      Vehicle with-
amendments in traffic law need to be made, for ex-                                                                 driver                                                                                           out driver
ample concerning the national and international
provisions regarding the rights and obligations of                                                                                             Legal framework conditions
road users as well as regulations regarding the reg-                                                                                              need to be changed
istration of motor vehicles.                                                                                                                                                                                         Source: DEKRA

 1998 In Paris,                  1999 On October 1, it be-                                          2000 BMW launches the
 the new driver-                 comes mandatory for all newly                                      C1, the first and so far only
 less Métro line                 registered coaches to be fitted                                    two-wheeler in the world
 14 opens.                       with safety belts. Where safe-                                     that protects the rider in
                                 ty belts are prescribed, it is                                     an accident by means of a
                                 also mandatory to wear them.                                       surrounding structure (alu-
                                 The wearing of safety belts                                        minum space-frame design)
                                 in coaches and long-distance                                       and safety belt. The C1 can,
                                 buses becomes mandatory at                                         therefore, also be ridden
                                 EU level in May 2006.                                              without a helmet.

1990               |         |              |            |                  1995                           |                     |                      |                     |                                          20 0 0

                                                                                                                                                                                                                   12 | 13
Introduction

           Emmanuel Barbe
           Interministerial Delegate for Road Safety

         Public transport in France must remain safe
         In France and in the rest of Europe,                 and advanced driver training; and, since         address a long-standing and justified de-
         public transport counts among the saf-               September 1, 2015, the across-the-board          mand on the part of freight carriers, is
         est forms of transport. This is the case             introduction of an alcohol immobilizer.          without doubt an important step toward
         not only for rail and air traffic but also           Consequently, since 2010, the number             addressing the obvious fact that driver’s li-
         for public road transport, with coach-               of fatal accidents on public transport has       censes – unlike other forms of ID – occupy
         es involved in just 0.3% of all accidents            fallen by 6%.                                    a unique position and should be available
         with casualties in 2014 and urban bus-                  Unfortunately, this statistic is not nec-     not only to law enforcers.
         es in just 1.22%. The fact that it is not            essarily all it seems. Since the number             Despite the impressive successes that
         the occupants who are most at risk in an             of traffic fatalities in France in 2014 in-      have been achieved, road safety remains
         accident is hardly reassuring, however.              creased, Bernard Cazeneuve – the Min-            a high-priority task because the unaccept-
         While six people died in coaches and                 ister of the Interior – presented an emer-       ably high number of traffic fatalities in
         three people in urban buses in 2014,                 gency plan containing 26 measures                France – 3,464 in 2015 – does not even
         almost five times as many people (27)                aimed at improving road safety. On               begin to reflect the number of road traffic
         were killed in accidents involving coach-            October 2, 2015, Prime Minister Manuel           incidents that saw 26,143 people hospi-
         es and seven times as many (21) in acci-             Valls convened the ministers most strongly       talized in 2015.
         dents involving urban buses. Regrettably,            involved in this matter to draw up a high-
         most of these victims were pedestrians.              ly ambitious interministerial catalog of
            Despite the tragic accident that oc-              measures for improving road safety. The
         curred in October 2015 in Puisseguin                 22 main measures – in conjunction with
         (Gironde), in which 43 people were                   the 33 accompanying measures – re-
         killed in the most appalling of circum-              flect the government’s intention to identify
         stances, there is still no need to directly          and leverage every ounce of potential for
         question the safety of this mode of trans-           avoiding fatal accidents.
         port. Even if the accident was triggered                In this, the ambitious continuation of
         by a dramatic chain of events, it is still           the strategy of conducting radar speed
         impossible to tell whether the findings              checks plays a central role. Outsourc-
         of the ongoing investigation will lead               ing the use of mobile radar vans to ap-
         to new recommendations regarding the                 proved companies, the installation of
         safety of coaches. The government will               dummy speed cameras, the possible use
         be keeping a close eye on this.                      of drones, not to mention the imminent
            Following the accident near Beaune                use of speed radar traps that can also
         in 1982, in which 53 people – includ-                identify coaches are all key milestones
         ing 44 children – were killed, the safety            toward reducing speeding on our roads
         of public transport was declared a top               and make an important contribution to
         priority. A whole raft of provisions were            road safety.
         enacted: Mandatory wearing of safe-                     Of particular note is measure 21, which
         ty belts for all coach occupants; reduc-             allows freight carriers to check wheth-
         tion of the maximum blood alcohol con-               er the driver’s licenses held by their em-
         tent of drivers (0.2 g/l of blood); initial          ployees are valid. This measure, which

         2001 The first   2003 BMW            2003 On November 17, the European Parliament and               2007 The DARPA Urban          2011 In the “Road
         color head-      becomes the         Council of the European Union enact Directive 2003/102/        Challenge – an interna-       Safety Guidelines
         up display is    first European      EC for the protection of pedestrians and other vulnerable      tional competition for        2011–2020”, the
         installed in     manufacturer        road users. This stipulates that the front ends of cars must   unmanned vehicles in an       European Commis-
         the Chevrolet    to introduce        undergo a series of component crash tests to verify that       urban environment – takes     sion formulates its
         Corvette.        the head-up         certain biomechanical limits are not exceeded. The impac-      place in the USA.             goal to halve the
                          display, install-   tors used during testing represent the parts of a pedestri-                                  number of traffic
                          ing it in the 5     an’s body that are most at risk of injury (head, pelvis and     2008 Germany’s first         fatalities between
                          and 6 Series.       leg). Since October 2005, newly certified vehicle types         fully automatic, driv-       2010 and 2020.
                                              are required to undergo testing in this way.                    erless underground
                                                                                                              railway travels through
                                                                                                              Nuremberg.

20 0 0                                           20 05                                            2010                                      2011
7
   Even in conjunction with the introduction of                  Change of responsibility and liability with highly automated driving
highly automated vehicle functions (level 3), li-                                           Handover to system                          Hand back to driver
ability issues have to be clarified (Figure 7). Re-
sponsibility for driving traditionally lies with the               Driver               Offer to         System                   Request to         Driver
                                                                   drives              handover          drives                   hand back          drives
driver of the vehicle, although the vehicle owner
is co-liable in the event of an accident within the                     Responsibility with                  Responsibility with system            Responsibility with
scope of their responsibility – for example regard-                    driver (joint liability              (liability with manufacturer,         driver (joint liability
                                                                      with owner, or possibly,                or possibly, joint liability       with owner, or possibly,
ing the technical condition of the vehicle or the                          manufacturer)                              with owner)                     manufacturer)
surrender of the vehicle to the driver. The manu-
facturer, too, may also be liable if a product defect
caused or contributed to the accident.

   Overall, it is highly likely that, already by the         (level 3). Whether this will be possible for normal
end of the second decade of this century, numer-             drivers on public roads, however, seems less like-
ous car manufacturers will be offering cars featur-          ly as things currently stand. Among other things,
ing functions enabling partially automated driv-             level 3 driving would have to be allowed within the
ing (level 2) on highways or for parking – and not           framework of applicable, further amended legisla-
just in the luxury segment. By that time, associ-            tion and of the associated subordinate regulations
ated systems will probably be sufficiently techni-           and implementing regulations, including clarifi-
cally advanced to enable highly automated driving            cation of liability.

                                                                       The facts at a glance
                                                                    • Cars account for by far the highest                     • The number of traffic fatali-
                                                                      amount of passenger kilometers                            ties in several EU states rose
                                                                      traveled by any mode of transport.                        again in 2015.

                                                                    • Motorized individual transport                          • Modern vehicles equipped
                                                                      has for years accounted for almost                        with assistance systems and
                                                                      50% of all traffic in urban areas;                        functions are making an im-
                                                                      in rural areas, however, this figure                      portant contribution to further
                                                                      is more than 60%.                                         reducing the number of road
                                                                                                                                accidents and victims.
                                                                    • The use of motorized passenger
                                                                      transportation in Germany and                           • Highly and fully automated
                                                                      other EU states is set to increase                        driving will require numerous
                                                                      by around 10% between 2010                                amendments to the existing
                                                                      and 2030.                                                 legal framework conditions.

 2014 From November 1, all new road vehicles                        2015 From July 1, technical testing                    2015 From November 1, in the EU,
 – including everything from cars to heavy buses                    organizations in Germany are required                  newly registered heavy-duty trucks
 and trucks and their trailers – in the EU must be                  to use a main inspection adapter during                (more than 3.5 t gross weight rating)
 equipped with electronic vehicle stability control                 general inspections on cars. This is used              and buses with more than eight seats
 (EVSC), generally known as ESP or ESC. This                        for inspecting electronic vehicle compo-               (not including the driver’s seat) must be
 requirement has already been in place for newly                    nents and is designed for the increasing-              equipped with an advanced emergen-
 type-approved vehicles since November 1, 2011.                     ly complex technology installed in cars.               cy braking system (AEBS) and a lane
 This equipment requirement is based on EU                                                                                 departure warning system (LDWS). This
 regulation no. 661/2009.                                           2015 In September, a section of the A9                 requirement has already been in place
                                                                    highway in Germany becomes a des-                      for newly type-approved vehicles since
                                                                    ignated “test track” for automated and                 November 1, 2013 and is also based
                                                                    networked driving.                                     on EU regulation no. 661/2009.

        2012                                          2013                                                   2014                                                           2015

                                                                                                                                                                  14 | 15
Accidents

                          Acute Risk of Missing Eu Targets for 2020
                          When it comes to road accidents with casualties, car occupants account for the highest number of fatalities and injuries.
                          In Germany alone in 2014, almost 50% of all people killed on the roads were occupants of a car; among those suffering
                          minor and serious injuries, this figure was more than 55%. Furthermore, almost two thirds of all people involved in acci-
                          dents with casualties were car drivers. And things don’t look much different EU-wide, which is due no doubt to cars’ sheer
                          dominance on the roads – more than half of all journeys are made by car. However, the figures also show that, in terms of
                          mobility behavior, this vehicle category and its users still offer the biggest potential for initiating a disctinctive downturn in
                          the number of road accident victims. At the same time, the number of vulnerable road users such as riders of two-wheeled
                          vehicles and pedestrians is also increasing, which means that even more attention must be devoted to these road user
                          groups in the future. Demographic change also ultimately gives rise to additional challenges.

                                                                T  he judgment of Violeta Bulc, the EU Commis-
                                                                   sioner for Transport, at a press conference last
                                                                year in Brussels could hardly have been more sober-
                                                                                                                                                                           ally bad year for road safety, particularly in terms of
                                                                                                                                                                           the unfavorable development compared with 2013.
                                                                                                                                                                           Although the number of traffic fatalities fell by 1.2%
                                                                ing when she stated that, in her view, 2014 was a re-                                                      to around 25,700, this percentage decline was a long
                                                                                                                                                                           way from the fall needed to achieve the European
                                                                                                                                                                           Commission’s strategic goal of halving the number
8
    Road traffic fatalities in EU-28 since 1991                                                                                                                            of traffic fatalities between 2010 and 2020. In figures,
    The sustained downward trend is unmistakable, although it has clearly lost momentum in 2014.                                                                           this would mean that the number of traffic fatalities
                                                                                                                                                                           on Europe’s roads would have to be less than 16,000
                                                                                                                                            2
                                                                                                                                                                           in 2020. This would be just about possible with a per-
                          80,000                                                                                                                                           centage decline of around 7.8%, as was the case from
                                                                                                                                            0
                                                                                                                                                                           2012 to 2013 (Figure 8).
                                                                                                                                                  Relative annual change
Road traffic fatalities

                                                                                                                                            -2
                          60,000
                                                                                                                                                         in percent

                                                                                                                                                                              The Commissioner noted that the EU mem-
     in EU-28

                                                                                                                                            -4
                                                                                                                                                                           ber states above all must be responsible for everyday
                          40,000                                                                                                            -6
                                                                                                                                                                           road safety, for example by enforcing traffic regula-
                                                                                                                       2014: 25,645                                        tions, launching public information campaigns and
                                                                                                                                            -8
                          20,000                                                                                                                                           expanding and maintaining infrastructure. The EU
                                                                                                           Goal for 2020: 15,750            -10                            bears some responsibility, too: Through legal provi-
                               0                                                                                                            -12                            sions and recommendations concerning, for example,
                                   1991
                                          1993
                                                 1995
                                                        1997

                                                                      2001
                                                                             2003
                                                                                    2005
                                                                                           2007
                                                                                                  2009
                                                                                                         2011
                                                                                                                2013
                                                                                                                       2015
                                                                                                                              2017
                                                                                                                                     2019
                                                               1999

                                                                                    Year
                                                                                     Data source: CARE; European Commission, DG Mobility and Transport
9
                  Fatalities in the EU member states

                                                                                                                              h
                                                                                                                          blik

                                                                                                                          eic
                  The number of road traffic fatalities in the EU states fell by 53% between 2001 and 2014.

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                                                                                                                                                                             Change        2001–2014                2010–2014

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                                          0
Average annual change in percent

                                     10

                                     20                                           EU average
                                                                                  2010 – 2014
                                     30                                           -18%

                                     40

                                     50
                                                                                                                                                                                                     EU average
                                     60                                                                                                                                                              2001–2014
                                                                                                                                                                                                     -53%
                                     70

                                     80                                                                                                                                                                  Data source: CARE, February 2016

minimum requirements regarding the registration of                                                                       traffic fatalities per million inhabitants: Bulgaria,
new vehicle types, technical vehicle monitoring and                                                                      Latvia, Lithuania and Romania. The most danger-
the harmonization of technical standards, it can play a                                                                  ous roads in the EU are in Latvia, where 106 traf-
role in improving the safety of Europe’s roads.                                                                          fic fatalities per million inhabitants occurred in
                                                                                                                         2014. In Germany, the number of traffic fatalities
BIG GAP BETWEEN POORER                                                                                                   per million inhabitants increased from 41 in 2013
AND RICHER COUNTRIES                                                                                                     to 42 in 2014.

Broken down by member state, the statistics pub-                                                                            According to the European Commission, some
lished by the EU Commission show that big dif-                                                                           member states – particularly Greece, Malta, Por-
ferences still exist when it comes to the number of                                                                      tugal and Spain – have enjoyed an above-average
fatal accidents. The average number of traffic fa-                                                                       improvement in road safety over the years. Den-
talities in the EU in 2014 was around 51 per mil-                                                                        mark, Croatia, Austria, Romania, Slovakia and Cy-
lion inhabitants. With around 30 per one mil-                                                                            prus have also seen an abovce-average decline in the
lion inhabitants, the Netherlands, Sweden and the                                                                        number of traffic fatalities between 2010 and 2014
United Kingdom still have the fewest traffic fa-                                                                         (Figure 9). In all states, nearly half of all road users
talities. In four countries, 2014 saw more than 90                                                                       involved in accidents were in cars (Figure 10).

10
                  Traffic fatalities in the EU by road user group and location                                                                                        Car/Taxi
                                                                                                                                                                      Motorcycle
                                                                                                                                                                                           Trucks
                                                                                                                                                                                           Trucks up to 3.5 t
                  Across the EU, car occupants account for the highest number of traffic fatalities – on rural roads and highways, in                                 Moped                Bus
                  particular, the figure is almost 60%. In urban areas, pedestrians account for nearly 40% of fatalities, significantly                               Bicycle              Tractor
                                                                                                                                                                      Pedestrians          Others
                  ahead of other road user groups.
                                                                         45.4                                                                     57.9                                     58.1
                                                                                                        15.0
                                                                                                                            25.1
                                                                                                  4.2

                                                              All                               11.6           Urban                               Rural               2.5
                                                                                                                                                                                             High-
                                   14.6                      roads                       2.7                   traffic               2.7           roads               0.9                   ways                     2.2
                                                                                        2.5                                         1.6                               2.8                                            3.3
                                                                                       2.3                                         0.9                               2.3
                                                                                                                                                                                                                   5.5
                                          2.8
                                                                                                                                                              11.2                  10.9
                                                  7.7                                                                                      15.1                                                             8.8
                                                                           22.0                                                                                                              11.2
                                                                                                                39.1                                2.2 5.9
                                                                                                                                                                                                           Data source: CARE

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      16 | 17
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