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Yeah, I'm not sure why I put that 'severely' in. That's a mistake. I think there has been a complacency in the UK because of our history of comparatively low road deaths and, until recently, falling casualty figures. Compared to many European nations there isn't the opportunity to reduce death and injury here to the same degree but we have been overtaken in road safety terms by countries like Sweden with 'Vision Zero' policies. As cyclists we are more aware of the behavioural factors that make cycling less safe and less pleasant than it should be and how the laissez faire political approach to road safety in the UK does little to address these factors across all transport modes.
That all makes sense.
I guess when you're starting from a relatively low base of overall casualties - and as you say, despite the rhetoric you sometimes see, ours is low, and significantly lower than it was ten or twenty years ago - then the political will is probably difficult to chivvy into action.
Interestingly though, the per capita casualty figures (and the reduction) are very similar between the UK and Sweden, 1991-2014. Obviously that trend doesn't differentiate between categories of road user, but it does suggest that the Vision Zero stuff maybe isn't (yet?) having a great effect on the headline numbers.
(The slightly meaningless raw numbers say that in 2013, cyclists were 5% of casualties in SE, 6% in GB, while pedestrians were 16%/23%. My Swedish is lousy but I reckon the graph on p39 of this report shows cycle casualties in the UK (2008-2010) were about 22 per bn vehicle km, and in Sweden (2006) were 14, so midway between NL (9, from spindrift's link) and GB. Absolute numbers for SE (2007-2012) are on p25.)
jsabine-
You claimed the UK has:
pretty much the lowest number of deaths per capita or per mile driven of any country in the world of any size.
That's not true. We have one of the worst vulnerable road user fatality and injury rates in Europe. And this despite walking and cycling rates being depressed by our lawless roads.
spindrift
Yeah, I'm not sure why I put that 'severely' in. That's a mistake. I think there has been a complacency in the UK because of our history of comparatively low road deaths and, until recently, falling casualty figures. Compared to many European nations there isn't the opportunity to reduce death and injury here to the same degree but we have been overtaken in road safety terms by countries like Sweden with 'Vision Zero' policies. As cyclists we are more aware of the behavioural factors that make cycling less safe and less pleasant than it should be and how the laissez faire political approach to road safety in the UK does little to address these factors across all transport modes.