Millions of road accidents every year cause 40 thousand deaths in the 27 States of the Union. Information and sensitization measures are insufficient. The safety initiatives are too diversified, from country to country. On the basis of those considerations, the European Parliament, during the session taking place in Strasbourg this week, approved the report by the Swedish MP Ewa Hedkvist Petersen, which included the "recipe" of the Assembly for "granting higher road safety". On the community level, the subject was tackled several times in the past, and the European action programme for road safety has to be pointed out. The programme was launched by the Commission and was named "Reducing the number of road victims in the European Union by one half within 2010: a common responsibility". The accidents involving vehicles on the main roads of Europe "generate over 40 thousand victims every year, – it is written in the report, – causing a cost of 180 billion euros", equalling 2% of the gross domestic product of the EU. "Therefore, we are still very far from the goal of reducing their number by one half within 2010". (to be continued)
