Skip to main content

Road safety education in the spotlight

Road safety education is severely lacking in much of Europe. That is the finding of research by the European Transport Safety Commission (ETSC). According to this new report, there are vast differences in the amount of road safety education given to children across Europe, particularly at secondary school level. The research shows that road safety education is provided to children in primary education all over Europe. However, it is not given to youngsters in secondary education in 20% of the 36 European s
January 25, 2019 Read time: 2 mins
Road safety education is severely lacking in much of Europe. That is the finding of research by the European Transport Safety Commission (ETSC). According to this new report, there are vast differences in the amount of road safety education given to children across Europe, particularly at secondary school level.


The research shows that road safety education is provided to children in primary education all over Europe. However, it is not given to youngsters in secondary education in 20% of the 36 European states and regions studied. In addition, the research shows that traffic safety and mobility education is only sparsely addressed in secondary education in most of the states and regions where it is given.

Few states and regions have a legal minimum requirement for the amount of road safety education that should be given at secondary school. And only 50% of states and regions that do offer road safety education set educational goals for what should be taught.

The risk of a road death increases sharply after 13 years of age, as children start to travel independently. For youngsters aged 15-19, road collisions are the main external cause of death. However, it is not known how effective current road safety education practices are at reducing deaths and injuries due to a lack of wide-ranging studies on the issue.

To help tackle this issue, a new event is being run in Madrid providing a focus on traffic education in Europe. This is being coordinated by the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC), the Flemish Foundation for Traffic Knowledge (VSV) and Fundación MAPFRE. The report has been written in collaboration with more than 30 road safety education experts from across Europe.

The Leveraging Education to Advance Road safety Now! (LEARN!) project aims to promote traffic safety and mobility education across Europe. It will boost the international community of road safety education experts and establish best practice guidelines for the design, testing, implementation and evaluation of road safety education activities and programmes.

The project has a website (%$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external www.trafficsafetyeducation.eu false http://www.trafficsafetyeducation.eu/ false false%>), with resources for road safety education experts and the possibility to sign-up for updates on the latest news, projects, best practice examples and material related to traffic safety and mobility education.

Related Content

  • TISPOL European speeding crackdown nets 120,000 tickets in 24 hours (Video)
    April 28, 2015
    The first pan-European 24-hour speeding enforcement crackdown resulted in police issuing more than 120,000 penalties. TISPOL, the European Traffic Police Network based in London, UK, said the “marathon” took place earlier this month and so far 17 out of 22 participating countries have provided data. A total of 4,352,234 vehicles were checked during the 24 hours. Of the 122,581 speeding offences, 116,479 were detected by police officers, with 6,102 detections using automatic devices. Police in Germa
  • Las Vegas to be site for Premier IRF Conference & Expo
    March 28, 2018
    The International Road Federation will host a gathering of mobility professionals and road, tunnel and bridge equipment manufacturers from around the world. These industry professionals will attend the IRF Global Road Conference & Expo, November 7-9, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada, US. According to IRF president & CEO C Patrick Sankey "The IRF Global Road Conference and R2T Global Expo combine to offer a new international meeting point where leading industry innovators, researchers, and stakeholders acquire
  • More demonstrations, more exhibitors at PLANTWORX 2017 in the UK
    January 26, 2017
    The 3rd biennial PLANTWORX Construction Machinery exhibition in the UK is on target to exceed the number of exhibitors at the last show in 2015. With five months to go before opening, 278 exhibitors have signed up, making 86% of exhibition spaces sold, according to the organisers. Of the 278 exhibitors, 74 are new to the event which is hosted the CEA - the UK’s Construction Equipment Association. The biennial event will take place at its established home at Bruntingthorpe Proving Ground in Leicestersh
  • High fatality rates around the world
    March 13, 2014
    In 2010, global road traffic injuries resulted in 1.3 million deaths and were the eighth leading cause of death, with 90% of fatal injuries taking place in low- and middle-income countries At the root of this crisis in the developing world are persisting managerial and technical capacity weaknesses. For many fast-motorising countries, fragmented legislation, poorly targeted funding, ineffective institutional leadership, and outdated road engineering practices could all translate into failure to meet road