July 21, 2010

European Commission drive to make roads safer

Source: New Europe

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European Commission Vice President, Siim Kallas  who is also responsible for transport, announced that the Commission intended to make Europe's roads safer. At present, there are 100 fatalities a day on European roads, the equivalent of one person dying every fifteen minutes. Kallas claimed that EU measures had already saved 80,000 lives and said that the new target was to halve the number of fatalities by 2020.

The estimated cost of road accidents is ¬130 billion a year. Since 2001, fatalities in the EU have decreased by an average of 36%, with only two nations, Romania and Malta showing an increase.

The plan involves road engineering and technology as well as traditional methods such as training and enforcement. One policy was that road projects will only receive EU funding if they meet safety requirements.

Other measures include active safety measures such as smart technology, mandatory advanced braking systems and new technical specifications for Intelligent Transport Systems.

Stricter enforcement of existing laws is a key part of the strategy, and cross border traffic will be targeted. Motorcyclists will also come under greater scrutiny.

However, the Commissioner said that drivers hold the key to road safety. He 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.