EU urged to improve road safety standards
Date: 29/4/2014
A number of leading transport experts and authorities have called on the (EU) European Union to accelerate progress on road safety in a bid to reduce the number of people killed on the continent’s roads.
The calls come after research from the (ETSC) European Transport Safety Council found 12,345 car occupants were fatally injured in 2012.
Perhaps more worrying was the fact that 900 of these lives could have been saved if car manufacturers were required by law to fit seat belt reminder sensors.
Drink-driving and inappropriate speed were still named as major contributors to road deaths in Europe.
Antonio Avenoso, Executive Director of ETSC, said: “While huge progress has been made in cutting the number of people killed in cars on Europe’s roads it is simply wrong that 12,000 still die every year for reasons that are mostly avoidable.”
He noted that the simple measures of seat belt reminders, better enforcement of speed limits, and measures to prevent repeat drink drivers from getting behind the wheel could help to achieve the EU’s target of halving the number of road deaths by 2020.
Louise Lloyd at the UK’s Transport Research Laboratory said: “Road safety and the associated road casualty indicators in Britain have been better and smaller than the EU average in most areas over the last decade. This report shows that the fatality rate for car occupants in Britain is still amongst the best in Europe, however progress to reduce this rate has been slower than the EU average over the last decade.
“In order to keep our reputation as one of the leading countries in road safety and continue to save many lives, we must not be complacent, and continued efforts are required to improve safety for all road users,” she concluded.
Posted by Mary Treen
Transport Research News and Vehicle Safety News
