Do we have to fear a resurgence in the number of accidents?
Without further road safety efforts, the number of seriously and fatally injured road users is likely to stagnate or even rise again. This trend is already evident among vulnerable road users, such as cyclists and e-bikers.
Accident prevention in Switzerland is a success story. Swiss roads are among the safest in the world. This top position has been achieved with improved infrastructure and safer vehicles, but also through behavioral prevention.
However, the first negative changes are becoming apparent among vulnerable road users, as the bfu's SINUS Report 2017 shows. Among cyclists and E-bike riding as well as pedestrians, the traffic safety situation is coming to a head.
In 2016, 854 people were killed on Swiss roads Cycling seriously injured, 24 died. There has been no improvement here for 10 years, the number serious accidents even increased slightly during this period, by 0.4 percent. Among e-bike riders, the number of serious accidents has even tripled since 2011. One reason for this is that e-bikes are becoming increasingly popular. The number of accidents also rose in the short term among road users who are most at risk of serious accidents - pedestrians. In 2016, 2.1 percent more serious accidents occurred here than in the previous year.
A challenge for the coming years
So when it comes to road safety, we must not rest on our laurels. Accident prevention will continue to be a challenge in the coming years. The focus will be on the high-quality and complete implementation of Via sicura, the continuous improvement of road infrastructure, and the exploitation of the safety potential of driver assistance systems.
You can find the SINUS Report 2017 here. In addition you will find here a compilation of the most important legal provisions relevant to traffic safety.
The SINUS Report (Sicialityniveau and Uncident in the Strassenverkehr) is a publication line of the bfu and the Fonds für Verkehrssicherheit FVS. It is intended to serve as a reference work for prevention experts and interested parties. On the basis of various indicators (e.g. injuries, delinquency and protection behavior, safety attitudes), the current situation and development in road traffic are assessed and the problems to be solved are identified. From this, the bfu derives the focal points of its road traffic activities.
Text: bfu
