The Aci-Istat report on road accidents in 2022 has been published , we have already talked about it in a recent news item- which reports the growth (+9.9%) compared to the previous year, of deaths caused by road accidents. A total of 3,159 people lost their lives, for an average of 9 per day. Also on the rise is the number of injured people, which comes to 223,475, (+9.2% compared to 2021) and the number of road accidents (+9.2%), which rose to 165,889, for an average of 454 per day. As for roads, it is urban roads that are the most dangerous, where 73.4 % of accidents occur, but fatal ones occur mainly on the suburban network, where 48.5% of accidents are recorded; finally, only 5% occur on highways. The social cost of road accidents 2022 amounts to nearly 18 billion euros (0.9 percent of national GDP): up 9.8 percent from 16.4 billion in 2021.
The main causes of traffic accidents
Loss of concentration while driving can manifest itself in a variety of ways, such as sending text messages or using a smartphone, consulting maps, applying makeup, eating or drinking, conversations with passengers, and listening to loud music. The consequences of such distractions while driving can have dramatic and devastating consequences. According to the report, the main causes of road accidents are: “Distracted driving or indecisive trending” (32,701 accidents: 15 percent of the total), “failure to yield right of way or traffic lights” (29,840 accidents: 13.7 percent) and “speeding too fast” (20,316: 9.3 percent). Next: “irregular maneuvers” (e.g., reversing, reversing, irregular maneuvering to stop or cross the roadway: 16,788 cases: 7.7%) and “failure to keep a safe distance” (15,233 cases: 7.0%). “Failure to yield the right of way to pedestrian” (7,185) and “pedestrian misbehavior” (5,899) account for 3.3% and 2.7% of accident causes, respectively.EU focuses on technologies
Road accidents are often the result of human oversight or error. In this regard, in order to drastically reduce this phenomenon and significantly improve road conditions in general, the EU is focusing on technologies as the most viable and effective solution to reduce road deaths and, for the first time, serious injuries, by 50 % by 2030. The goal is contained in the Commission’s Strategic Action Plan on Road Safety and is part of a larger plan to achieve zero road fatalities by 2050 (“Vision Zero“). This is also a clear path for Viasat (now part of Targa Telematics), which, through increasingly high-performance solutions, offers motorists the possibility of detecting a multiplicity of information: from that related to the vehicle to that concerning driving style, fuel consumption and even the external parameters with which those behind the wheel have to deal.
