Youth and road safety in Europe. Policy briefing

By Dinesh Sethi, Francesca Racioppi and Francesco Mitis
2007, viii + 34 pages
ISBN 978 92 890 2199 9

Children and young adults need special consideration as vulnerable and inexperienced road users. Each year in the WHO European Region, 32 000 people younger than 25 years lose their lives to road traffic injuries, making this the third leading cause of death. Among them, about half of those younger than 15 years die as pedestrians, while those aged 15–24 predominantly die as car or motorcycle users. This booklet highlights some of the factors that put young people at increased risk of serious road crashes, including speed, alcohol, not being conspicuous, not using crash helmets, seat-belts and child passenger restraints, and road and vehicle designs that lack built-in safety features. Many cost-effective interventions have been proposed to counteract this relentless daily toll. There is a wealth of experience in the European Region and of opportunities to learn from it.