Like a “civil war”

The statistics are certainly shocking, like those of a civil war. In 2008, 39,000 people died of road accidents in the EU27, while the injured totalled a mind-boggling 1,600,000. Yet, we are told, “the number of victims of road accidents has been constantly falling” over the last few years in Europe; that’s why we must hope “not to exceed the threshold of 36,000 deaths”. Antonio Tajani, EU Commissioner for Transport, promoted an international conference on road safety in Brussels on 2 December, as part of wider consultations to define a Community strategy for the period 2011-2020. Towards a new strategy. “There are too many deaths on the roads”, said the Italian Commissioner. “I think of the families struck by accidents, their sufferings, the problems linked to the costs of medical treatment…”. Tajani pointed out that “approximately half of all deaths on European roads are pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists”. Each year some 1,100 children below the age of 15 lose their lives on the roads. Neither the member states nor the EU can remain idle in the face of this tragic scenario: “Road safety is a right and the EU must take action and assume its responsibility as a consequence”, declared Tajani. The Union had defined a ten-year strategy in 2001, composed of 60 specific measures: “This has permitted us to save, overall, some 70,000 human lives”. In fact the overall data, however tragic they remain, register a downturn in the number of victims killed and injured. “Today however this strategy needs to be revised and relaunched”, also in the light of new vehicle flows, infrastructural changes (urban roads, fast lanes, motorways, suburban or mountain roads), innovations made to cars, trucks, and buses, the presence of pedestrians and increased numbers of those travelling on two wheels.Political commitment of member states and EU. The Commission thus underlines the urgent need for a new “political commitment” to road safety on the part of member states and the EU. The objective, as discussed in Brussels and at other occasions for debate on this matter in recent months, is that of at least halving the number of victims as soon as possible. “This programme of action – explained Tajani – will enable us to remain vigilant and determined in the effort to reduce road accidents”. The EU’s new programme “will also concentrate on such priorities as accidents on rural roads (60% of the total number of victims) and on the most vulnerable of road users, such as pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists and the elderly”. The debate in Brussels on 2 December took the form of two round tables involving 400 experts and politicians and plenary sessions with all the participants. The first round table focused on the safety of vehicles and infrastructures, with particular attention to the safety of motorcycles, vehicles of the future such as electric cars, ecological means of transport and ways of adjusting the infrastructures to the various categories of road users. The second round table was aimed at exploring the role that citizens can play in improving road safety: the “experts” in this case were victims of road accidents, professional drivers, public bodies, traffic police, and exponents of the industry that produces road transport vehicles. “Prizes of excellence” awarded. The conference also provided an occasion to award the “Prizes of excellence for road safety 2009”. These awards form, according to the Executive, “an integral part of the European Charter of Road Safety”, an initiative of the Commission itself that provides businesses, associations, research institutes and public bodies with “a platform on road safety”. The common objective is “to implement specific measures and share the best practices to tackle the problems of safety that are really encountered”. This year the prizes went to Eko Fuel Stations (Bulgaria) for the category of big corporations and multinationals; Transportes Bizarro Duarte (Portugal) for small and medium businesses; Zrzeszenie Miedzynarodowych Przewozników Drogowych (hauliers’ association – Poland) for federations and associations; Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service (UK), category of institutions; Prague Mothers (Czech Republic), NGOs; and Linköpings kommun (Sweden), local, regional and municipal authorities. Website with road safety informationAs part of the process of defining the Community road safety strategy for the next ten years, a special website has been created (http://ec.europa.eu//road_safety/). It offers a wealth of information, translated for the time being in the six official languages of the Union: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Polish. The site contains legislative sources, the various “highway codes”, country by country, spaces concerning categories of users (children, cyclists, elderly drivers, drivers who have recently taken their driver’s licence…), information on infrastructures and statistics, useful links. It offers a wealth of information, translated for the time being in the six official languages of the Union: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Polish. The site contains legislative sources, the various “highway codes”, country by country, spaces concerning categories of users (children, cyclists, elderly drivers, drivers who have recently taken their driver’s licence…), information on infrastructures and statistics, useful links.