Millions of Europeans travel by road every year: at the present time over 375 million. Europe’s roads are often the scene of fatal accidents. In 2003, according to Eurostat data, there were 39,062 fatalities and 1.7 million injuries in road accidents. The figures show that the under-50 year olds have more probability of dying in a road accident than of dying of cardiac diseases or cancer, while youth between the ages of 15 and 24 account for a quarter of the victims of road accidents. The negative impact of road accidents is not only moral, but also material, given that it has been estimated that their impact on GDP in the EU is of the order of 2%. There are four main causal factors in road accidents: excessive speed (cause of a third of all accidents), drug or alcohol consumption (driving a car while under the influence of drink causes 10,000 victims per year), failure to respect the obligation to wear a safety belt or helmet, and the various levels of safety offered by vehicles. In response to this situation, the EU and national governments are cooperating in trying to find solutions with the objective of halving fatal road accidents by 2010. The basis from which to start out is the proposal for a “European action programme on road safety” and the setting up of a European Agency for Road Safety.
