Urban Road Safety in the Republic of Serbia

Abstract

Advantages of traffic have been known since the first day of traffic development. However, as society evolved so did the traffic and road safety consequently developed. In this way, the negative effects that traffic has on the society, where traffic accidents and their consequences have a leading negative effect, has started to be notices. This is also shown by the fact that an average of 1.35 million people is killed in traffic accidents a year worldwide. However, the development of the society introduces us to the new traffic consequences, such as: air and environment pollution, increased levels of ambient sounds, physical inactivity and the development of numerous diseases (cardio-vascular, respiratory, diabetes) and the onset of mental illness. Namely, it has been estimated that more than two hundred thousand people prematurely died since the beginning of this century because of air pollution and environmental hazards – traffic is largely contributing to CO2 emissions. In this regard, the issues of urban road safety is being given increasing importance today, namely the reduce use of privet passenger cars and the increasing efforts to create space for vulnerable road users. The subject of this paper is the analysis of urban road traffic safety on the territory of 20 selected local governments of the Republic of Serbia. In addition to the basic demographic characteristics of the selected local governments, the paper will present the results of a questionnaire conducted on citizens’ attitudes about urban traffic safety. Although the majority of residents choose walking as the main transport mode, they believe that it is necessary to improve the infrastructure offer for active transport modes, which would significantly contribute to the development of pedestrian and bicycle traffic. A significant number of respondents exceed the speed while driving a motor vehicle, although they show that they are aware of the risks that speeding leads to, especially with regard to vulnerable road users.