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Traffic in Sweden, the U.K. and the Netherlands is the Safest in the World

 

June 2004

 

(also see relevant links at the foot of the page)

 

The road safety policies in the Netherlands, Great Britain, and Sweden have resulted in them having the smallest numbers of road deaths per 100,000 inhabitants in the world. However, as appears from the SUNflower project, further improvements are still possible, whereby the three countries can learn from each other. The SUNflower report was presented to the Netherlands Minister of Transport, Mrs. Karla Peijs, in March 2004.

  

SWOV (Netherlands), the TRL (Great Britain), and VTI (Sweden) compared the road safety policies of the three countries. This project was given the name SUNflower; SUN stands for Sweden, United Kingdom, and the Netherlands. The goal of the study was to discover what had made these three countries so successful.

  

  

Success Factors

  

The study showed that during the past 20 years, all three countries had taken measures aimed at drink-driving, speeding offences, seat belt use, and safer roads. The three countries also use so-called quantitive targets: a percentage by which the number of traffic casualties had to decrease within a given period of time.
  

This systematic policy has resulted in the annual number of road deaths per 100,000 inhabitants in the SUNflower countries being the lowest in the world: 5.9 in Great Britain, 6.7 in Sweden, and 6.8. in the Netherlands. The EU average is 11 (road deaths per 100,000 inhabitants), in the United States 15.2, and in Australia 8.2.

  

  

We can do better…

  

The report makes recommendations to improve the road safety in the SUNflower countries even more. In the Netherlands compared to the other two countries, the following issues stand out negatively:

  • The high (crash) rate for mopedists

  • The punishment for drink-driving
  • Seatbelt use, also on the rear seats (in the Netherlands nearly 90% of drivers wear a seatbelt, compared with 95% in Great Britain and Sweden; the rear seat use in the Netherlands is 60%).
  • The high (crash) rates on roads.

The research institutes also recommend that the European Commission takes measures to improve road safety within the EU. The EU also has a quantitive target: 50% less road deaths than in 2000 by 2010. According to the SUN institutes, this reduction can only be achieved with additional measures. The recommendations to the EU are as follows:

  • There must be EU guidelines for sharpening the national road safety policies in the individual EU countries.

  • There must be a EU subsidy fund to pay for large-scale measures. Examples of measures are: making the infrastructure safer and employing the police for surveillance of speeds, alcohol use, and seatbelt wearing.
  • There must be EU guidelines for improving the safety of vehicles, for their occupants as well as their crash opponents.
  • As was the case in the SUNflower project, there must be a detailed comparative follow-up study of the road safety policies of EU countries in various regions.

The SUNflower project was financed with support from the EU and from the Ministries of Transport of the three countries.
  

The complete SUNflower report can be studied and downloaded from the SWOV website, at www.swov.nl/en/index.htm 

  

  

Follow-up

  

The EU Commission found that the results were reason to agree to a follow-up project. The method and results of the first study will be used to analyse the road safety problems in a number of other countries. Its purpose is to determine the most effective measures. This follow-up project has already started with SUNFLOWERplus6 as its name. In addition to Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands, the following are also participating: Portugal, Hungary, Greece, Slovenia, Spain (Catalonia), and Czechia. The first results will be presented in late 2005. This study will, among other matters, pay attention to pedestrians, motorized two-wheelers, speeds, novice drivers, and the conducting of effective policy in general.

  

Read more about the UN General Assembly Plenary Session, from SWOV

    

Source: SWOV

  

  

Relevant Links:

  

      International Road-Crash Fatality Rates -- 1988-2002

 

      Multi-Country Per Capita Fatality Data for 2003  (for more than 50 countries)

 

      Britain Achieves Lowest Number of Road Deaths on Record  (issued June 10, 2005)