Each year, nearly 1.3 million people die and between 20 million and 50 million more are injured as a result of road accidents in the world. In 2014 alone, 25.700 people died on the roads of the 28 EU member states, according to the recently released European Commission yearly review of road safety in Europe. 22% of those killed were pedestrians, and 15% were motorcycle riders.
The EC review was released on 24 March 2015 and reported a decrease of 1% in road fatalities in 2014 compared to the previous year, when the decline had been 8%. The number of deaths varies greatly from one country to another. The UK, the Netherlands and Sweden do quite well, whereas Romania, Bulgaria and Latvia continue to report fatality rates of at least 80 dead per million of inhabitants.
Preventing death, injury and disability caused by road accidents has been a serious preoccupation of the EC. The goal is to halve the number of deaths by 2020, as compared to 2010. This ambitious target was set in the context of the UN General Assembly proclaiming 2010-2020 the “Decade of Action on Road Safety”, when a Global Plan was adopted to reduce fatalities at a global level. The EU Commissioner for Transport, the Slovenian Violeta Bulc, in a keynote speech she delivered on the occasion of the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims in November 2014, pledged to make road safety a top priority.
Drastically reducing road accident fatalities has been encouraged by the EC by adopting far-reaching legislation, by promoting national collaboration and sharing of best practices, by organizing awareness campaigns and by publishing related research and studies. In 2010, the EU adopted a Communication aimed at establishing a European Road Safety Area through education, campaigns, training of users, enforcement of road rules, improvement of existing infrastructure, promoting the use of technology. Furthermore, the EU has sought to involve civ
il society as a whole by creating a “European Road Safety Charter”, a platform uniting more than 2.300 public and private actors. Its role is to strengthen the road safety culture across Europe, improving common knowledge about the causes of accidents and helping to create preventative measures and solutions.
In fact, the European continent is already a model for the rest of the world to follow in terms of road safety policies. The UN Global Plan encouraged the creation of regional instruments, such as the European Agreement concerning the Work of Crews of Vehicles Engaged in International Road Transport (AETR). The European Commission is set to publish by May 2015 an interim report on EU road safety policy where it will take stock of what has been done up to now and will set the agenda for the next five years. Through its work, the EU is hoping to lead the way in implementing the UN’s Global Plan and achieve its ambitious 2020 goal. Implementation, of course, depends on the cooperation of member states but also of each one of us, as drivers, passengers, pedestrians or cyclists.
