An Exploration of Road Safety Parameters in Belarus and the European Union

AbstractThe objective of the present paper is, through analysing basic road safety parameters in Belarus and the European Union (EU), to explore, compare and outline the key parameters contributing to road fatalities in the recent years in Belarus and EU.Initially, the action plans and safety performances for both Belarus and EU Member States are assessed, based on various indicators and specific time periods. The assessment revealed that during the period 2000–2010, although road fatalities in Belarus decreased about 25%, the overall road safety performance is rather weak compared to the majority of EU States (-43%). During the period 2011–2013, Belarus achieved a noticeable decrease by another 25% reduction in road fatalities, a performance figuring among the best in EU.As to address the parameters related to road fatalities, lognormal regression models were developed and applied to vehicle fleet and demographical data for Belarus and the EU and elasticity values were calculated for the identification of the comparative effect of each variable.The examination of Belarus and certain neighbor EU States revealed that there are some important road safety similarities. In both cases, an increase in the percentage of pedestrian fatalities is related to vehicle type. The results of this research could be proved beneficial for the identification of appropriate measures addressing the underlying road safety issues in Belarus.In conclusion, it was found that the current road safety performance in Belarus is improving rather slowly and requires further effort from all road safety authorities and other stakeholders in Belarus. Belarus presents the second worst performance in pedestrian fatalities compared to the EU Member States, and therefore special emphasis should be given to road safety measures (behaviour, infrastructure, vehicle) focusing on pedestrian safety