Specific risks for young and vulnerable road users
Specific risks for young and vulnerable road users asks you to recognise the people and situations that produce the worst injuries on Croatian roads, and to adjust before the hazard appears.
Core rules
- Young riders carry the highest risk per kilometre; the first months after the licence are the deadliest because skill grows more slowly than confidence.
- Children are unpredictable: they dart out between parked cars, chase balls, and cannot judge closing speed. Slow to walking pace in school zones, near playgrounds and near ice-cream vans.
- Elderly pedestrians perceive and move slowly, may step out without looking, and cannot hurry.
- Cyclists: door-zone incidents, right-hook turns and being overtaken too closely. Leave a wide margin, at speed and in the rain.
- Trucks and buses have large blind spots in front, at the sides and behind; a turning lorry can sweep over the kerb, so never ride up its right side.
- Tram stops: stop behind a tram that is discharging passengers.
- Protective clothing: helmet (compulsory), gloves, jacket, boots and high-visibility material reduce injury severity and improve how early you are seen.
Worked example
You ride past a row of parked cars near a school gate and a ball rolls into the road; a child follows it. The correct response was decided 50 m earlier: reduce speed, cover the brakes, move away from the parked cars and be ready to stop in a straight line. Swerving into the oncoming lane to avoid a ball is the classic fatal mistake.
Traps that cost marks
Assuming a child has seen you, passing a stopped tram, riding in a lorry's right-side blind spot, and expecting a pedestrian in headphones to hear you.