Established in 1997, the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) provides consumers with a safety performance assessment for the majority of the most popular cars in Europe. Thanks to its rigorous crash tests, Euro NCAP has rapidly become an important driver safety improvement to new cars. After ten years of rating vehicles, Euro NCAP felt that a change was necessary to stay in tune with rapidly emerging driver assistance and crash avoidance systems and to respond to shifting priorities in road safety. A new overall rating system was introduced that combines the most important aspects of vehicle safety under a single star rating. The overall rating system has allowed Euro NCAP to continue to push for better fitment and higher performance for vehicles sold on the European market. In the coming years, the safety rating is expected to play an important role in the support of the roll-out of highly automated vehicles.

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For a very precise analysis of all injured bicyclists in Germany it would be important to have definitions for "severely injured", "seriously injured" and "critically injured". By this, e.g., two-thirds of surgically treated bicyclists who are not registered by the police could become available for a general analysis. Elderly bicyclists (> 60 years) are a minority (10 %) but represent a majority (50 %) of all fatalities. They profit most by wearing a helmet and would be less injured by using special bicycle bags, switching on their hearing aids and following all traffic rules. E-bikes are used more and more (145 % more in 2012 vs. 2011) with 600,000 at the end of 2011 and are increasingly involved in accidents but still have a lack of legislation. So even for pedelecs 45 with 500 W and a possible speed of 45 km/h there is still no legislative demand for the use of a protecting helmet. 96 % of all injured cyclists in Germany had more than 0.5 ‰ alcohol in their blood, 86 % more than 1.1 ‰ and 59 % more than 1.7 ‰. Fatalities are seen in 24.2 % of cases without any collision partner. Therefore the ADFC calls for a limit of 1.1 ‰. Some virtual studies conclude that integrated sensors in bicycle helmets which would interact with sensors in cars could prevent collisions or reduce the severity of injury by stopping the cars automatically. Integrated sensors in cars with opening angles of 180° enable about 93 % of all bicyclists to be detected leading to a high rate of injury avoidance and/or mitigation. Hanging lamps reduce with 35 % significantly bicycle accidents for children, traffic education for children and special trainings for elderly bicyclists are also recommended as prevention tools. As long as helmet use for bicyclists in Germany rates only 9 % on average and legislative orders for using a helmet will not be in force in the near future, coming up campaigns seem to be necessary to be promoted by the Deutscher Verkehrssicherheitsrat as, e.g., "Helmets are cool". Also, spots in TV should be broadcasted like "The 7th sense" or "Traffic compass", which were warning car drivers many years ago of moments of danger but now they could be used to warn bicyclists of life-threatening situations in traffic.

During a 1-day workshop organized by the German Society of Orthopaedics and Traumatology (DGOU) 15 German accident researchers used different approaches to improve the effectiveness of accident prevention for pedestrians and bicyclists on German roads. The main results of this analysis show: Fatal injuries of pedestrians have been significantly reduced by 82% between 1970 (n=6.056) and 2007 (n=695). Similarly, fatalities of bicyclists have been reduced during the same time period from 1,835 to 425 which amount to almost 80%. However, the total number of injured cyclists increased almost twice, i.e. from 40,531 (in 1979) to 78,579 (in 2007) a fact that needs to be analyzed in more detail. Although scientifically proven to provide protection against severe head injuries, helmets are worn less frequently by adolescents and women as compared to younger children and men. Fatalities of bicyclists might be reduced by using Dobli mirrors which allow the truck driver to see the bicyclist when turning right. Recently developed sensors are able to detect pedestrians walking closely (<2.5 m) and warn the truck driver acoustically. Bicycle lanes should be planned for one direction only, separated from the pedestrian way and large enough (2.0 m are safer than 1.6 m). Traffic education for school beginners and younger children should be repeated to be effective. Training for elderly bicyclists in cities with heavy traffic would also be reasonable. Active security systems in cars like ESP (electronic stability program), BAS (brake assist system), special light systems for curves, and night vision utilities are most effective to prevent collision with pedestrians and bicyclists. TV spots for bicyclists could help to point out dangerous situations and the proven benefits of wearing a helmet in the same way as previous campaigns, e.g."The 7th Sense" for car drivers.

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