A comparative study of the development of road safety in Catalonia, Spain, Portugal and Greece.

Abstract

This report is one of three area reports that examine the road safety performance of the nine countries participating in the SUNflowerplus project. This area report compares the road safety situation of the Southern countries of Greece, Portugal and Spain (including a separate analysis for the Spanish autonomous region of Catalonia).

The aim of this report is to identify the major road traffic risk differences between Southern European countries based upon a comparative approach initially applied by the SUN (Sweden, United Kingdom & the Netherlands) countries, and focussed on the analysis of fatalities by users of different modes of road transport.

The method for comparing the Southern countries has been developed from that of the original SUNflower report (SWOV, 2002), and is reflected in the organisation of the chapters: - Description of national policy and plans. - Description of the transport context. - Fatalities by road user mode and collisions between modes. - Case studies for: drink-driving, seat belts, young drivers, speed management, pedestrians, mopeds and motorcycles.

In some cases (for example, young drivers and pedestrians), the indicators used to compare the situation in the Southern countries are common to those reported in the SUN and Central areas. In other cases (for example, speed management) the situations are very different and there is less scope for comparison.

SUNflower+6 compares statistics for road fatalities in terms of fatalities within 30 days of the accident. In all three Southern countries, the figures are based on national factors applied to police data recording deaths within 24 hours. In producing indicators, various efforts to improve data systems have been detected. In general, a greater use of information and communications technologies could improve the process of data registration as well as facilitating improved analysis.

All three countries (and the autonomous region of Catalonia) have published a plan covering a period of three or more years (including the current year of 2005) that sets quantified targets for a reduction in the number of road accident fatalities. Such progress in road safety planning is a relatively new aspect of road safety activity in the Southern countries studied. The targeted reductions for Portugal are even more ambitious than those of the EU White Policy paper proposing a halving in road deaths by 2010, whilst those for Spain and Catalonia are in line with the European overall projection and those for Greece are more modest.