You are here

Potential for reducing seriously injured and killed in traffic

By forcefully implementing 33 road safety measures the number of killed and seriously injured in traffic can be reduced significantly.

This is the main conclusion in a report analyzing the potential for improving road safety.

With 106 road accident fatalities in 2017, Norway has a high level of road safety compared to other countries. It is a political objective to continue improving road safety in Norway. Targets have been set for a maximum of 500 killed or seriously injured road users by 2024 (771 in 2017) and 350 killed or seriously injured road users by 2030. Are these targets realistic and to what extent can road safety measures contribute to further reduce of the number of killed or seriously injured road users in Norway?

The target of a maximum of 500 killed and seriously injured by 2024 can in principle be achieved, but it requires a strong focus on road safety measures, including vigorous development of motorways and road lighting, doubling of police controls in traffic and faster replacement of the car fleet.

However, the target of no more than 350 killed and seriously injured by 2030 seems more difficult to achieve with the measures included in the calculations and the assumptions made about the effects of the measures.

On the basis of injury data collected by the Oslo Medical Center in 2014 (cyclists) and 2016 (pedestrians), it is estimated how much damage among pedestrians and cyclists can be reduced by better operation of pedestrian and bicycle areas, especially winter operation. It is estimated that the number of injuries among pedestrians can be reduced by 23-30% and the number of injuries among cyclists can be reduced by 5-10%.

Report: The Potential for Reducing the number of Killed or Seriously Injured Road Users in Norway in the period 2018-2030. Authors: Rune Elvik, Alena Katharina Høye. TØI-report 1764/2020.

 

      

Gaustadalléen 21
0349 Oslo, Norway

Phone: +47 22 57 38 00
E-mail: toi@toi.no