Cutting Road Accidents by Half by 2010

The UK and Sweden may have the safest roads in the EU if statistics on road traffic fatalities are to be believed. But every death on the roads means the tragedy of a life cut short and the UK is far from immune. Only a few days ago (8 September 2005) two accidents in Hampshire and in Wales resulted in the death of 10 people in the space of two hours: nearly all of them were in their teens or early 20s.

On Thursday 29 September, the European Parliament adopted a report by Ari VATANEN on how to cut by half the number of road accident victims by 2010. Mr Vatanen is a former world rally champion from Finland, but was elected in June 2004 as an MEP from France and sits with the largest political group, the EPP-ED (European People's Party - European Democrats). During the committee debate on his report he quoted the

Reducing the number of road accidents - key concern for MEPs

economist John Maynard Keynes, who said: 'In the long run, we are all dead'. But, Mr Vatanen added, this need not necessarily be on the EU's roads.

In the debate addressing the entire the European Parliament, Mr Vatanen said on Wednesday 28 September "The figures regarding traffic safety are as bleak and grim as the weather outside tonight. There are about 50 000 deaths per year, about 2 million people are injured. It is the main cause of death in the under-50s age group. It costs about 2% of GNP, equivalent to EUR 200 billion. But that is only money. We have to realise that what is at stake is the human suffering.

Why do we do so little? It is because it is not the Concorde which crashes, it is not the pride of the UK and France which crashes. When that happened, all Concordes were grounded immediately. No stone was left unturned in seeking to remedy the problem. But when it comes to traffic safety, it is just one family crying here, another family crying there. Their lives are shattered, amputated. You do not recover from it. You have to live with it. And perhaps only those people who have experienced that know what the grief of a family means.

When I was a small boy I was with my entire family in a motor car when my father was killed. I remember him leaning against the steering wheel, that anxiety in my chest. I am sure that experience has left me with a bigger internal handicap than I dare to admit."

According the European Commission's Community Road Accident Database (CARE) 40,000 lives are lost in road accidents every year across the EU. When you add the 1.7 million people injured in those accidents, the costs (indirect and direct) are estimated at €160billion. Mr Vatanen points out in his report that 'if all the Member States were to achieve the same results as the UK and Sweden, the number of fatalities would fall by 17,000 a year in the EU of 25 [nations], but this would still fall short of the targeted 50% cut'. Moreover, the gap between the best and worst performing Member States is widening, with the Baltic states eight times more dangerous than the UK.

The UK's roads may be relatively safe, but Department for Transport figures show a 12% rise in the number of teenage drivers and passengers killed on the roads in 2004 - over the same time period, the total number of road traffic deaths fell. Britain's child pedestrian death rate has improved in recent years, but is still worse than several other EU countries, including France and Germany.

So, what can be done at EU level and what does the report adopted by the European Parliament's Transport Committee propose?

Ari Vatanen's report points out that improvements in road safety come from a combination of safer drivers; safer cars; and safer roads.

On drivers, Mr Vatanen says: "If everybody wore a seat belt, complied with the legal speed limits and did not drive under the influence of alcohol, fatalities would be cut by more than 60%... However, enforcement is mainly an issue for the Member States".

What can be done at EU level is to ensure that people who commit a traffic offence in one Member State do not escape penalty simply by crossing a border back to their place of residence. In February this year the Council of Ministers agreed on the principle of mutual recognition of financial penalties, which should apply to traffic offences - the report of the European Parliament calls for a workable system to ensure this happens in practice.

Ari Vatanen

MEP and former World Rally Driving Champion

On the cars themselves, much has been done through EU legislation already to improve vehicle safety. Mr Vatanen's report calls for further progress in vehicle design, using technological developments such as: seat belt reminders; electronic stability controls; and speed limitation systems, all of which have been found to reduce accidents and cut the number of deaths when accidents do happen.

As for the roads, Mr Vatanen argues that not enough resources are devoted at national or European level to safety improvements in the design, construction and operation of the road network. According to EuroTest 2005, 91% of motorists want better harmonisation of road signs across Europe. This does not mean forcing the UK to have signs in kilometres rather than miles, but it might mean a uniform system of colours and symbols for road signs, which would mean greater familiarity, whether you are hiring a car at Athens Airport or just driving a few miles down the road to the local supermarket.

Overall, the report calls for the EU's role to be one of coordination, research, awareness campaigns and exchanges of best practice. This, says the report, could be one of the roles of a proposed new European Road Safety Agency.

The resolution adopted by the full Parliament on Thursday 29 September does not bring in any new legislation, but is a contribution to the ongoing debate at European level.

DSA Comments Mr Vatanen is undeniably correct when he implies that no one country has all of the answers when it comes to reducing road casualties.

Here, at Drive and Stay Alive, one of our self-appointed roles is the collection and distribution of data showing just a few of the variables in this complex topic, and some relevant links are given below.