Traffic Safety based on Accident Statistics Concerning Road Vehicles and Infrastructure

Abstract

The large number of traffic accidents and their grave consequences
represent a real problem all over the world. A successful innovative activity in this field performed on a worldwide scale contributes to solving a critical social and economic issue. Due to the more easily available European statistical data, the paper is going to present the causes of accidents and examine possible solutions. Although a number of effective measures have been implemented in the field of traffic safety, the number of road accidents is still unacceptably high in the EU: a total of 1.3 million accidents per year result in close to 40,000 deaths and 1.7 million injuries. There is a large body of statistical data available (both from Hungary and from Europe) and several comprehensive researches discuss the types of accidents. Available analyses are going to be made on what kind of active or passive vehicle safety systems could have helped avoid the accidents. These analyses have and still define the main directions for legislation  and technical developments.