Road Safety Country Profile - Luxemburg

8/7/2019 Road Safety Country Profile - Luxemburg

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Road Safety Country Profile October 2005 Luxembourg 1/7

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Although Luxembourg is a small country in size, it has a relatively high level of transit traffic on itsmain (Trans-European) motorway sections. Luxembourg road traffic patterns and consequently

road safety figures are influenced by the high level of commuting cross-border traffic. Combined,these two factors represented more than 20 % of the fatalities in 2003 (11 deaths).

Whereas there is no formal National Road Safety Action Plan in Luxembourg, the issue is part of thegovernmental priorities and actions have been taken, particularly during recent years. This has hada positive impact on the number of accidents, injuries and fatalities since 2000.

The statistics on injuries and accidents with corporal injury should be treated with precaution, asthe annual fluctuations are influenced by the collection method, particularly in the 1990's. In recentyears, the collection method for road safety statistics has been improved considerably.

Table 1. Annual development in injury accidents, injuries and fatalities in Luxembourg, 1991-2004. Please notethat only the number of fatalities is comparable to similar statistics for the other Member States due todifferences in data collection procedures for the number of accidents and injuries.

COUNTRY FACTS

Area: 2 586 km2

Inhabitants: 444 050 (2003)Road Network: 5 210 km (2000)Passenger Car Ratio: 646 per 1 000 inhabitants (2002)

Luxembourg

* Accidents with injuries** Death within 30 days of accident

Source: CARE project data (see also: http://europa.eu.int/comm/transport/care/index_en.htm)

Road Safety Country Profile

1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

Accidents * 1 126 1 139 1 184 1 133 1 145 1 050 1 016 1 058 1 076 899 772 769 664 692

Injuries 1 639 1 656 1 642 1 575 1 660 1 538 1 498 1 500 1 500 1 255 1 176 1 728 1 049 1 079

Fatalities ** 83 69 78 65 70 71 60 57 58 76 70 62 53 49

216 177 197 162 172 172 143 135 135 174 159 140 119 110per millioninhabitants
http://europa.eu.int/comm/transport/care/index_en.htmhttp://europa.eu.int/comm/transport/care/index_en.htm


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Country organisation, responsibilities and resourcesThe Ministry of Transport has the overall responsibility for road safety in Luxembourg, andcollaborates closely with the Police (approx. 700 policemen present on the entire road network)who, besides enforcement of road safety (together with the Ministry of Justice) provide data andinformation.

In 2003, the Ministry of Transport had a budget of 200 000 for road safetyawareness campaigns.

Other (non-profit) organisations are active on road safety awareness, education and prevention(focussed on drink driving and speeding) such as:

La Scurit Routire which carries out various national and local campaigns on road safety

The Association of Road Victims

Responsible Young Drivers (awareness for young drivers).

Other governmental bodies involved in road safety include:

The Ministry of the Interior (co-ordination of legislation and regulations).

The Ministry of Public Works: road traffic department (responsible for road infrastructure androad signing)

The Ministry of Public Health (responsible for emergency aid for traffic accident victims)

The Ministry of Education: awareness courses on road safety in primary and secondaryschools.

Private companies in Luxembourg also provide internal awareness campaigns on road safetytargeted at their personnel.

The Vehicle Inspection Centre (SNCT) also provides driving training to young or voluntary drivers, aswell as for bus and moped drivers.

150

140

130

120

110100

90

80

70

60

1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

Figure 1.Annual developments (year 2001 = 100) in fatalities and accidents on national and EU-25 level.

Fatalities (Luxembourg)

Accidents (Luxembourg)

Fatalities (EU-25)

Accidents (EU-25)

Source: CARE project data (see also: http://europa.eu.int/comm/transport/care/index_en.htm)


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There is no road safety observatory in Luxembourg. However, an annual report on road safetypublished by the Ministry of Transport together with the Police (Police Grand-Ducale) gives detailedinformation about accidents. This report is used by the authorities to monitor the improvement ofroad safety.

Transport policies

The primary objective of the Government of Luxembourg as regards road safety is to reduce thenumber of victims (both killed and injured) on the roads. At present, no target or goal has beenestablished for 2010.

The Police make road safety checks and carry out a different, dedicated road safety campaign oraction every month focusing on specific areas e.g. speed, alcohol, seatbelts etc. as well as havingradar controls.

Due to the use of electronic recording of accident reports, road safety data collection has improvedsince 2002. Statistics have become more reliable, allowing for better understanding of thecircumstances causing road accidents. This has in turn provided a better focus in the controlsundertaken, integrating both enforcement and prevention.

In terms of traffic rules, the main changes introduced in Luxembourg in recent years were:

The penalty point permit (November 2002) together with increased fines (but not a steepincrease)

Adaptation of the speed limit to 130 km/h on highways (110 km/h in case of bad weather)

instead of 120 km/h Reduction of the alcohol limit to 0.8 g/l

Compulsory hands-free kits for mobile phone use in cars

Reduction of speed limit in urban areas and creation of 30 km/h zones

Creation of roundabouts at intersections

Public transport is well-developed and the public is encouraged to use it: park-and-ride with freepublic transport (in Luxembourg City), free bus transport between certain municipalities (includingcross border) and access to free bicycles from railway stations.

The issue of seatbelts in buses is being studied. Installation of permanent automatic radars has notbeen voted on yet. Luxembourg is collecting its share of Euro-Vignette revenue from heavy goodsvehicles.

Road safety is a priority of the current government, which intends to adopt EU legislation andrecommendations where these are not already covered by national policy.


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Road safety action plans

Although Luxembourg does not have any formal road safety action plan with specific targets to bereached, improvement of road safety and the reduction of the number of victims (especially amongthe young) are underlined in the latest Government Programme (August 2004). The programme

constitutes a medium-term road safety plan, and road safety improvements are envisaged to beachieved both by prevention and enforcement.

Prevention: The number of road safety campaigns has increased in recent years and will continueto do so, particularly those targeted at young drivers. Initiatives such as late night buses are alsoencouraged.

Training and education of (young and novice) drivers, as well as additional driving courses areorganised in order to combat critical driving behaviour. These courses cover theoretical andpractical driving lessons, accompanying measures, the provisional driving licence, advancedpractical training (preventive, anticipative and defensive driving; vehicle behaviour in curves;

emergency braking; driving on dry and wet surfaces; skid behaviour of vehicles).

Safety and signalling audits are being promoted to improve road black spots.

Enforcement: The priority is to combat excessive/inappropriate speed associated with aggressivebehaviour and drug and alcohol consumption. This is to be achieved through the extension of thecoverage of the road traffic centre (CITA), installation of automatic radars, enforcement andalternative penalties. Installation of automatic radars is currently being discussed; consideration isbeing given to privacy policies.

The implementation of road safety actions is being coordinated by the Commission de Circulation

de lEtat, an official working group which gathers once a month and is composed ofrepresentatives on the main road safety stakeholders. This body acts as an inter-ministerialcommittee, providing the government with advice on road safety issues as well as publishingleaflets on for example, traffic on motorways, safety for motorised two-wheel vehicles andadaptation of the highway code.

Topics

During the past 5 years, public awareness of road safety has increased as has the political supportfor measures. Police enforcement has become more focused on road safety, and the number ofcontrols targeting road safety has increased significantly.

This has had a positive impact on road safety statistics in recent years, with a declining in thenumber of fatalities, accidents and injured persons. This has been achieved despite increases intraffic level and the number of registered cars.


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Road users

Analysis of statistics shows that the main cause of fatalities is speed, followed by fatigue and non-observance of right of way rules. The statistics on alcohol as a cause of fatalities probably do notreflect reality, due to the strict private data protection laws in Luxembourg limiting the disclosureof the offender details.

The rules for driving licence examination and the probationary training period have been tightenedover the past years.

A road safety campaign was launched in 1996, targeting young road users, together with theintroduction of obligatory road safety education in schools (practical and theoretical) and thequality of driving classes was improved.

This initiative is believed to have improved the behaviour of young road users, resulting in thepositive development of fewer young persons being killed in traffic. From 1993-1995 to 2003, theshare of fatalities between the age 18 and 24 declined steadily from 28 % to 22 % of all fatalities.

Meanwhile, significant increases in the share of fatalities were recorded for the age groups31-40 and 41-50.

Road safety campaigns take place all year round, focusing on different issues such as wearingseatbelts on urban or rural roads, wearing helmets, drink-driving and speeding, etc.

Luxembourg is improving the systematic transmission of road safety offences by non-residents tothe judiciaries of their countries of origin.

Vehicles

The legislation on vehicle technical inspection was changed in 2004, so that heavy goods vehiclescan be checked anywhere. In line with EU directives, trucks and buses must be equipped withspeed-limiting devices. The same devices are implemented on mopeds.

1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Bus

Car user

Goods vehicle

Two-wheel motor vehicle

Pedal driven

Pedestrian

Other

Figure 2. Fatalities by class of road users.

Source: CARE project data (see also: http://europa.eu.int/comm/transport/care/index_en.htm )

Bus

Car user

Goods vehicle

Two-wheel motor vehicle

Pedal driven

Pedestrian

Other


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Road infrastructure improvement

In 2003, accidents on rural roads accounted for approximately 62 % of those killed on the roads,followed by urban traffic (27 %) and highways (11 %). Although highways are the safest roads, asignificant number of accidents have been recorded at the intersections around main servicestations. Measures are planned to improve these areas and their access.

Discussions between the Association of Motorcyclists and the Ministry of Transport have led to theissuing of new guidelines for protection barriers, in order to reduce their impact on these roadusers.

Other topics

The number of cyclists is increasing and special cycle paths are available. Helmets arerecommended, but not compulsory.

The CITA project (part of the EU-CENTRICO project) established by the Road Administration is aimed

at setting up a motorway traffic control and information system (including real time weather andtraffic data collection, video surveillance, information to road users through VMS). The CITA projectwill be extended to the whole main road network.

As part of this project, a traffic management plan on the Brussels-Luxembourg-Langres route wasdeveloped in 2002 to deal with traffic events and alternative road deviations along this axis.

Vehicles are not allowed to overtake in road and motorway tunnels.


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Information

Contacts

Ministry of Transport, Francine Decker

References

Road Traffic Accident Assessment to 31st December 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000 (Bilan desaccidents de circulation au 31 dcembre 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000)

Websites

Government of the Grand-Duchy of Luxemburg (Le Gouvernement du Grand-Duch deLuxembourg):

- http://www.gouvernement.lu

- http://www.etat.lu

Ministry of National Education, Sports and Transport, joint didactic web site on road safety:http://www.msr.lu

Police:http://www.police.public.lu

La Scurit Routire, association luxembourgeoise pour la prvention des accidents de laroute:

- http://www.securite-routiere.lu

Real time traffic information project:http://www.cita.lu

Road infrastructure management (Administration des Ponts et Chausses):http://www.pch.etat.lu/index.html

Vehicle technical control and driver training (Socit Nationale de Contrle Technique):http://www.snct.lu
http://www.gouvernement.lu/http://www.etat.lu/http://www.msr.lu/http://www.police.public.lu/http://www.police.public.lu/http://www.securite-routiere.lu/http://www.cita.lu/http://www.cita.lu/http://www.pch.etat.lu/index.htmlhttp://www.snct.lu/http://www.gouvernement.lu/http://www.etat.lu/http://www.msr.lu/http://www.police.public.lu/http://www.securite-routiere.lu/http://www.cita.lu/http://www.pch.etat.lu/index.htmlhttp://www.snct.lu/

Road Safety Country Profile - Luxemburg

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