Skip to main content

2012 was record road death low in most OECD-IRTAD countries, says report

The year 2012 is said to have seen the lowest road deaths on record within most OECD (Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development) and IRTAD (International Traffic Safety Data and Analysis Group) countries. However, the IRTAD Annual Road Safety Report 2013, published yesterday by the International Transport Forum at the OECD, also claims road safety performance in terms of fatalities per 100,000 of population varies considerably among OECD-IRTAD countries. The difference between the best and the w
May 23, 2013 Read time: 3 mins
The year 2012 is said to have seen the lowest road deaths on record within most OECD (Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development) and 3444 IRTAD (International Traffic Safety Data and Analysis Group) countries.

However, the IRTAD Annual Road Safety Report 2013, published yesterday by the 1102 International Transport Forum at the OECD, also claims road safety performance in terms of fatalities per 100,000 of population varies considerably among OECD-IRTAD countries. The difference between the best and the worst road safety performers is said to be three-fold.

The disparity is said by the IRTAD report to reflect the divide between developed countries with effective road safety policies and emerging economies facing rapid motorisation that outpaces the implementation of safety measures.

The bulk of reductions in fatalities is said to have benefitted car occupants. Largely due to increased passive safety features of cars, deaths among car passengers have halved in the past decade.

Results have been less positive for vulnerable road users. Between 2000 and 2010, in OECD-IRTAD countries pedestrian and cyclist deaths fell by only one third, and those of moped and motorcycle riders by only 14%.

The safety of vulnerable road users continues to be a core road safety issue, not least in lower income countries. Also, with many countries seeking to encourage active mobility, improving safety for pedestrians and cyclists is said by the IRTAD report to be a priority.

Another core challenge is the reduction of serious injuries caused by road crashes. Such injuries often result in lifelong disabilities associated with considerable economic as well as emotional costs.

The impact of serious road injuries is often greatly underestimated, partly because of gaps in the data recording injury crashes. Currently, only a limited number of countries are able to provide sound road injury data.

An internationally accepted definition of a serious injury did not exist until recently. A proposal made by an IRTAD expert group has now been adopted by the 2465 European Commission, which is expected to issue a reduction target on serious injuries for the year 2020. The challenge for IRTAD members now is to implement the recommendations.

IRTAD is an international expert network and database on road safety data. A permanent working group of the International Transport Forum, IRTAD is composed of road safety experts and statisticians from safety research institutes, national road and transport administrations, international organisations, universities, automobile associations, the automobile industry, and others from OECD and non-OECD countries.

More than 70 organisations from 34 countries are currently IRTAD members, representing a wide range of public and private bodies with an interest in road safety.

The most visible product of the IRTAD Group is the International Road Traffic and Accident Database. The database includes aggregated data on injury accidents, road fatalities, injured and hospitalised road users, as well as relevant exposure data.

The ambition of IRTAD is to include new countries and to build and maintain a high-quality database on road safety information.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Kuwait's road safety route ahead
    March 5, 2012
    The Transport Ministry in Kuwait is looking to improve road safety and is at present evaluating different strategies to reduce the vehicle accident rate in the country.
  • Safety gains on Europe’s roads with lower KSI rates
    February 19, 2014
    Better road safety is helping to cut KSI rates right across the EC - Mike Woof writes Road safety continues to improve in Europe, with official statistics for 2012 showing a drop in fatalities of 2,661 compared with the figures for 2011. The latest data from Pan-European police body TISPOL shows an encouraging trend towards better road safety. This highlights safety improvements right across the EU. In 2012, a total of 27,700 people were killed in road crashes in the European Union’s 27 member states, eq
  • Luxemburg meets road safety target
    March 2, 2012
    Official data for Luxemburg, one of Europe's smallest nations, suggests that the country is on track to achieve its road safety targets during this year.
  • UK achieves road safety success
    December 10, 2015
    The UK has the second safest road network in the world, beaten only by Sweden according to the latest traffic data analysis from the Department for Transport (DfT). Fatalities from road crashes account for 28.3 deaths/million of population in the UK, compared with 28 fatalities/million of population in Sweden according to the DfT data. It should be noted too that the UK has a larger population and a far higher population density, as well as 35.6 million registered vehicles (an increase of 41% since 1994) an