Urban streets are becoming increasingly complex and are having significant impacts on road safety. Growing population density, a rise in cycling and micromobility, and continued reliance on private vehicles are intensifying competition for limited road space. This complexity has disproportionately affected vulnerable road users (VRUs). VRUs, including pedestrians, cyclists and micromobility users, represent 70% of all road fatalities in cities. This underscores a persistent mismatch between how streets are used and how they are designed and managed.
Road safety continues to be a priority for the EU with its Vision Zero goals. The vision sets out a 50% reduction in fatalities by 2030 and 100% reduction by 2050. Whilst the number of fatalities in 2024 fell on average across the EU by 2% compared to 2023, progress is slow and remains a challenge for all cities.
Improving road safety in cities requires a holistic approach. Such an approach needs to integrate smart street design, data-driven and predictive technologies, and behavioural insights. In 2025 EIT Urban Mobility supported three projects, ROADSCOR, SAFELIGHT and SAFELY. These projects are helping the shift from reactive to data-driven preventative road safety. Using advances in AI, computer vision, digital twins and geospatial analysis, they are helping cities to identify risks before accidents happen, and redesign streets accordingly. (....)