New publication emphasises the importance of protective equipment in vehicles for road safety

The European Road Safety Observatory (ERSO) is managed by the EU’s Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport (DG MOVE) and provides reliable and comparable data on road crashes, in-depth analysis, and information on road safety trends, practices, and policies in the EU. It has recently published its latest thematic report, drawing on the latest statistics and research on the use of road safety protective equipment, including seatbelts, helmets and child restraint systems. This report is part of a series of 20 thematic reports on road safety, which aim to give road safety practitioners and the general public an overview of the most important research questions and results on the topic in question. Given the higher number of vehicles used in urban areas, this topic is an important consideration for the urban community.  

The report highlights the importance of road safety protective equipment for cyclists, motor vehicle drivers, and passengers in reducing the injuries sustained in road accidents. However, according to various statistics, the protective equipment utilisation rate varies significantly by road user groups and between EU Member states. 

• An observational study conducted in 22 European countries found an average of 24% of motorcyclists have not used a helmet in the past 30 days. 
• Other road user groups also painted a similar picture of helmet-wearing rates in the same study, with 60% of the cyclists admitted to not using a helmet in the past month. Overall, among cyclists, rural roads showed higher percentages of helmet wearing compared to urban roads.
• For motor vehicle occupants, 15% and 32% of the front and rear passengers surveyed had not used seatbelts, respectively.
• Another 18.3% of the drivers admitted transporting children without a child restraint system in the past 30 days on average.

The report also summarises the causes and prevalence of road users opting out of using safety equipment and the risks of misusing or not using them. Multiple sources are compiled, and all point to the effectiveness of road safety protective equipment in reducing severe injuries in the event of a road accident. 

The last section of the report provides several recommendations and next steps for road safety practitioners on encouraging the use of safety protective equipment, including infrastructure upgrade, increase enforcement, legislation update and behaviour change campaigns. In particular, the behaviour change campaigns together with education seen in Denmark have been reported to be successful in increasing cycling helmet wearing rates from 6 to 50%. 

The full report can be found here.

Author: Hugo Ong

Views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and do not reflect those of the European Commission.