Country profiles and comparisons

Twenty-three countries have delivered data for the SafetyNet project: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom. For each of these countries, the report Road Safety Performance Indicators: Country Profiles presents an overview of available data for seven safety performance indicators: alcohol and drugs, speed, protective systems, daytime running lights, passive vehicle safety, roads and trauma management. The description includes background, data received, data quality and usability, and safety performance indicators used by countries themselves. The report Road Safety Performance Indicators: Country Profiles covers the same data as the report Road Safety Performance Indicators: Country Comparisons but it gives an overview of all data per separate country instead of making country comparisons.

Example country comparisons: Daytime seat belt wearing rate

2005 Daytime seat belt wearing rate on front seats of passenger cars and vans under 3.5

tons (SPI-A).

Only Germany, France and Malta register wearing rates above 95%, while the rates under 75% are registered in Belgium, Czech Republic, Estonia, Spain, Hungary and Poland. The rates in Slovakia, Lithuania and Greece, where the surveys have not been performed yet are presumably even lower

2005 Daytime seat belt wearing rate on rear seats of passenger cars and vans under 3.5

tons by persons above 12 years old (SPI-B).

For all countries, the rates for rear seats are substantially lower in comparison with the wearing rates on front seats (SPI-A) and in general are higher in those countries with higher rates for front seats and lower in those countries with lower rates for front seats.

Example country comparisons: DRL usage rates

The figure below shows the DRL usage rates in a bar chart.

Daytime running lights usage rates on different road types for 6 countries.

It is clearly visible that the DRL usage rates are highest in the countries and at the road types where DRL is obligatory. In Hungary, for example, DRL usage is high on roads outside urban areas. Inside urban areas it is not compulsory; the usage rate there is 5%. Switzerland has a high usage rate, considering that DRL is not compulsory. This could be explained by the recommendation by law in Switzerland. Austria, Czech Republic, Estonia and Finland have high DRL values for all road types. The DRL rate at the road type 'DRL roads' consists of the DRL rates at the road types at which the usage of DRL is obligatory by law in a country.

Example country comparisons: Trauma management

Combined estimates of the trauma management systems' performance in the countries

considered. H: high, RH: relatively high, M: medium, RL: relatively low, L: low.

It can be seen that:

• a consistently high level of the trauma management system's performance was found for Germany;
• summing up different rankings, a high level of the trauma management system's performance is attributable to Austria as well;
• a relatively high level of the trauma management system's performance can be stated for Belgium, Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, the United Kingdom and Norway;
• a medium level of the trauma management system's performance is attributable to Denmark, Hungary and Slovakia;
• countries such as Greece, Cyprus, Malta and Sweden, are characterised by a relatively low level of the trauma management systems' performance;
• surprisingly, a consistently low level of the trauma management system's performance was found for The Netherlands.