Road deaths across the European Union reached 35,000 last year, but that figure could be halved over the next ten years, according to a European Commission plan released on July 20.
The so-called European Road Safety Policy Orientations 2011-2020 outlines a range of measures to cut road deaths over the next decade, from road engineering and technology to “traditional methods” such as training and enforcement.
The new programme is the successor to the EU’s 2001-2010 road safety plan, which also aimed to halve road deaths in a decade. And although the first nine years revealed it missed the target - since 2001, fatalities in the EU have decreased by an average of 36% - the decline in road deaths is still seen as a major achievement. "A hundred people die everyday on Europe's roads,” said European Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas as he announced the programme. “We have made good progress since 2001 and we have succeeded in saving nearly 80,000 lives. But the number of fatalities and injuries on our roads is still unacceptable.”
The new programme has seven priorities:
1. Improved safety measures for vehicles. This includes mandatory electronic stability control (for cars, buses and trucks); lane departure warning systems (for trucks and buses); automatic emergency braking systems (for trucks and buses), and seat belt reminders (cars and trucks). Plus new, strengthened EU legislation on roadworthiness tests.
2. Safer road infrastructure. Road projects will only receive EU funding if they meet safety requirements. This is already the case for Trans-European Networks (TEN-T), but the Commission wants to extend it as a general principle for any EU funding.
3. Boost Smart Technology. These include new technical specifications under the Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) Directive so that data can be sent from vehicles to other vehicles and infrastructure (for example to enable real time information on speed limits, on traffic flows, congestion, pedestrian recognition.)
4. Better training for road users. The Commission says it will work with EU member states to develop a common education and training road safety strategy that include strengthening the quality of the licensing and training system.
5. Stricter enforcement of existing laws. The Commission wants to put more pressure on national governments to enforce national laws on speed limits, alcohol and wearing seatbelts. EU-wide rules on speeding were not part of the plan, but an EU law requiring alco-locks to be fitted on school buses or in vehicles of people convicted of drink-driving offences is being considered. And there will be a new bid to enforce cross border traffic offences.
6. Set a road injuries target. The Commission says it will first establish common definitions of serious and minor injuries, and then integrate an EU wide injuries target into the Road Safety Guidelines.
7. A new focus on motorcyclists. The Commission will seek technical standards on motorcycle airbags and anti-tampering systems (to stop drivers removing speed controls). Road-worthiness tests would be extended to more categories of motorbikes and powered two-wheelers.
Various measures
Kallas admitted that there was a lack of harmonization in the EU, with different states having different laws, speed limits and punishments, but he said that this wasn’t the time to introduce EU wide legislation on these issues. Indeed, a glance at national newspapers in recent weeks shows how different EU member states are attempting to improve road safety:
- in the United Kingdom, British Formula One ace Lewis Hamilton has joined a campaign calling on fleet decision-makers to buy or lease company cars fitted with new life-saving technology. He backed the measures for Electronic Stability Control (ESC), the most prevalent of eSafety technologies, featuring in 60% of all new vehicles.
- the Italian government is considering banning drivers over 80 years old from the roads in a bid to reduce accidents. Currently driving licences must be renewed every ten years until the age of 50, every five years until 70 and then every three years. Drivers-have to provide medical certificates but there is no practical test.
- British road safety charity Brake has announced the launch of its Road Safety Library, an online resource with free access for anyone with an interest in road safety. It is aimed at share research and best practice, helping organisations develop and deliver effective interventions to prevent deaths and injuries on roads.
At the same time, there are potential reverses. For example, some EU local authorities are turning off motorway lights in the early hours between, say, midnight and 5am. They say the move saves money and carbon emissions and even stops light pollution, but road safety campaigners warn that accidents are more common on unlit stretches of road.
Public backing for action
The moves are backed by public opinion, too. The Commission also released details of a Eurobarometer survey revealing widespread support for more efforts to improve road safety: nine out of ten Europeans (94%) said drink-driving was the most significant road safety problem, while eight out of ten (78%) called speeding a major safety problem. The poll - conducted among more than 25,000 people aged 15 or over - also revealed that most Europeans (52%) think governments should focus on improving road infrastructure as a first or second priority, while 42% said the same for improving the enforcement of traffic laws and 36% for dealing equally forcefully with resident and foreign traffic offenders.
The poll found variations amongst the member states. For example, exceeding speed limits was a major safety problem for 52% of Swedes but 94% of Cypriots. Cypriot, Italian, French, Spanish and Greek respondents were more likely than others to regard drivers and passengers not wearing seatbelts as a major safety problem in their country (84%-89%); in Ireland and Sweden, less than half of respondents felt that way (both 47%). In Denmark, Italy, Cyprus, Lithuania and Luxembourg, they prioritised improving the enforcement of traffic laws over improving road infrastructure safety; but Austrian, French and Dutch gave more priority to measures to deal equally forcefully with resident and foreign traffic offenders.
Downward trend
At the same time, the latest road safety figures were announced alongside the measures. They reveal the relative road safety in EU member states, showing huge gaps between the member states, not just in the efforts to cut road deaths over the decade, but in absolute terms, with the worst member states having more than triple the road deaths per million of the best.
The EU average was 113 road deaths per million in 2001, and fell by 36% to 69 in 2009. The biggest fall between 2001 and 2009 was in Latvia, by 54%, although the Baltic nation had by far the highest fatality rate in 2001, at 236 per million habitants. The worse performance over the decade came in Malta, where road deaths actually rose, 31%, from 41 to 51 per million. The only other country where road deaths rose was Romania, by 14%, from 112 to 130, giving it the EU’s most dangerous in 2009 (along with Greece, although its 130 deaths in 2009 was down from 172 in 2001). And the safest roads? The United Kingdom, at 38 per million, closely followed by the Netherlands and Sweden, both on 39. |
