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EU Looks to Restore Momentum to Push for Safer Roads
With an average of 49 road fatalities per 1 million inhabitants, compared with 174 deaths per million globally, the European Commission says roads in the region are among the world’s safest. But the EC says renewed efforts to make roads even safer are needed.
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Two children died in this February accident in Coventry, U.K., in case of alleged drunken driving. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
The European Union’s goal of halving road fatalities between 2010 and 2020 has become elusive, and the EU is looking at improving vehicle safety as a way to get back on course.
Traffic deaths dropped just 2% last year – by 300 to 25,200 – and the European Commission says despite the improvement, renewed efforts are needed for further substantial progress.
The EU estimates 135,000 people were seriously injured last year, including a sizable proportion of vulnerable users – pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists.
The EC, the EU’s executive branch, puts the cost of the road deaths and injuries at €120 billion ($148.5 billion) a year.
Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc says while road safety is a responsibility shared with the member states, she believes the EU itself can do more to better protect Europeans.
“The Commission is working on a series of concrete measures that we plan to announce in the coming weeks,” Bulc says in a statement.
Actions under consideration include:
Vehicle safety: taking the latest technological developments such as driver-assistance systems into account to avoid accidents and protect pedestrians and cyclists.
Infrastructure safety management: increasing transparency of procedures and working toward an equal level of infrastructure safety.
Cooperative, connected and autonomous mobility: guaranteeing a safe transition to these technologies, which potentially may reduce driver errors responsible for about 90% of accidents but also create new challenges, such as safe interaction with other road users.
The EC plans to present these measures later this spring.
Transport Commissioner Bulc says EU plans more vehicle safety improvements.
With an average of 49 road fatalities per 1 million inhabitants, compared with 174 deaths per million globally, the commission says European roads are among the safest in the world.
Between 2010 and 2017, Greece reported the biggest drop in fatalities (-41%), followed by Estonia (-39%), Latvia (-38%) and Lithuania (-36%). The EU average was down 20%.
Only 8% of road deaths in 2017 were on motorways, with 55% on rural roads and 37% in urban areas.
Pedestrians represented 21% of all people killed, while 25% were 2-wheeler riders (14% motorcyclists, 8% cyclists and 3% moped riders).
Almost 14% of people killed were between ages 18 and 24, while only 8% of the EU population falls within this age group. Young people are far more likely to be victims of road crashes than any other age group.
Demographic changes in Europe saw the proportion of elderly fatalities rise from 22% in 2010 to 27% in 2017.
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