English, 10 pages, 5 figures, 15 references

This paper is synthetically presenting, in 3 steps, the main issues concerning traffic safety in Europe. First, the macro statistics about road mortality and morbidity show for example a dramatic decline in fatalities and injuries since the 70s. Then we elaborate a list of risk factors that are generating the crash risk and the injury risk. These factors are traditionnally presented with breakdown by driver, vehicle, infrastructure and environmental context. Finally, we analyse the accident mechanisms by examining the conditions of the production of human failures. Some insights into the expected safety benefits of technology-based safety functions show how much technology is promising in preventing both crash risk and injury risk.