UN's Global Road Safety Week aims at making roads safer

The latest research*eu results magazine is now available in free, accessible PDF.

From 4 to 10 May, the world will be celebrating the UN's Global Road Safety Week under the theme 'Children and road safety', which follows a 10-year series of resolutions aimed at making roads safer. Some 3 400 people still die on the road every day, which makes it the 9th leading cause of death behind the likes of heart disease, stroke, lung cancer and AIDS.

Research and development is one of the key instruments for to EU to reach its objective of halving road deaths by 2020. From FP4 to FP6, some EUR 150 million were invested in vehicle and infrastructure safety, raising user awareness and accidentology. FP7 pursued these efforts with a long-term strategy, and some of the last and most promising projects are now coming to an end.

This month's 'special' section covers a handful of these projects and comprises five articles and four interviews. The topics addressed include self-driving vehicles, which are hoped to revolutionise the way we conceive transportation, as well as innovative safety equipment, driver behaviour monitoring techniques and technologies able to track and recognise vulnerable road users.

Other topics in this edition include the following highlights:

• Smart wheelchairs to prevent pressure ulcers
• Turning the tables: researching gambling research
• What happens if we all drive electrical vehicles?
• Red alert for ragweed allergy
• The market place of the Internet of Things
• The ultimate in semiconductor miniaturisation
• New sensor system sniffs out mycotoxins in wheat