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Road traffic is a highly sensitive issue and can pose a number of dangers if road users do not behave carefully and drive with foresight, as required by road traffic regulations.

 

The Pro-Rail Alliance has analysed this issue and made comparisons across Europe. Poland and Romania came off worst, at least as far as car traffic is concerned. More than five people were killed per billion passenger-kilometres in Poland and Romania. To explain, passenger-kilometres is a unit of measurement where the number of travellers is multiplied by the number of kilometres travelled in order to make a comparison between modes of transport. More specifically, the number of passenger fatalities per billion passenger-kilometres was 7.45 in Romania and 5.80 in Poland, well above the other averages for countries such as Germany (1.59) and Austria (2.60). However, if we look at surveys that ask people about their perception of road safety, the majority of respondents are positive, indicating that they feel safe or very safe when travelling by road.

 

Travelling by train in Poland or Romania is safer than in some other countries. The averages per billion passenger-kilometres are 0.10 and 0.12 respectively - the overall European average is only slightly lower at 0.07. When travelling by car, the overall average for fatal accidents in Europe is 2.50. The reason for the significant difference between rail and car is that the safety level of rail transport is much higher. This is achieved with the help of control and safety technology, which does not seem possible or practical in road transport.

 

Overall, analyses show that road transport is associated with significantly more risks, hazards and even fatalities than rail transport. However, this is easily explained by the fact that rail transport is much easier to control and is controlled. Nevertheless, Romania and Poland are at the top of the list in terms of road deaths, which suggests that road safety should be promoted in both countries.

 

Source: Pixabay/cars-65434_1280