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

  • VIDEO: Good car winter maintenance is snow joke
    January 27, 2016
    Even conscientious professional people can get caught out by severe winter weather, as this video from Canada shows. We at World Highways hope that all our valued readers in the globe’s chillier regions have taken the time this season to ensure their safety by winterising their vehicles. It’s important to get it right. So the staff at World Highways would like to recommend that readers click here to take a quick look at some of the best - and worst - tips for winterising their personal vehicle. Fo
    Read More
  • E&E Event 2018 in Berlin: an asphalt industry fit for purpose
    May 15, 2018
    The provisional programme is now available for this year’s Euroasphalt and Eurobitume Event in Berlin. June 14-15. The focus of E&E 2018 will be on the preparations needed by the asphalt industry to ensure that it is fit for purpose in the future. Important strategic issues will be explored, some of which were highlighted in the E&E Congress 2016. These include the increasingly stringent economic aspects of supply and demand, the growing environmental issues over highway construction and use, health
    Read More
  • Five things road construction crews should not do
    June 19, 2015
    Sometimes you need a sense of humour to complete a task. Sometimes that sense of humour can overstep the mark and not everyone will see the joke, as these five road construction site pictures show. Here are five things that construction crews should not do.
    Read More
  • It’s a deadly business for contractors painting road markings
    August 4, 2015
    Animal welfare groups in the Republic of Ireland are angry over the apparent insensitive act by a road making contractor who painted a yellow line over a dead cat on the side of the highway. A report by Irish newspapers quoted one person saying it was “shameful” and “nobody cared enough to move this poor cat who had been killed by a car and the line was painted over it”.
    Read More

Highlighted Content