Reducing Child Deaths in Europe

The briefing offered an opportunity to present the results of the Road Safety Performance Index for child deaths on European roads. It also provided the occasion for an update on current developments in child and road safety policy and practice.

The ETSC is an independent, international brussels-based NGO that was formed in 1993 in response to the high levels of road casualties and public concern about individual transport tragedies. The organisation brings together a wide range of national and international organisations, alongside internationally renowned experts to advocate for research-based policy making to improve road safety.

The Road Safety Performance Index (PIN) was launched in June 2006, with the aim of comparing the road safety track records across different countries. It currently includes 30 different countries.

The latest results from the ETSC PIN country ranking on child safety show that some 18,500 children have been killed in road traffic accidents over the past 10 years in the EU-27, this includes 1,200 in 2007 alone. There is a positive trend showing that road safety has improved in all of the 30 countries covered by PIN over the last decade. Nevertheless certain countries have improved at a much greater speed (Portugal, France, Slovenia, ... ) whilst in others the improvement has been much slower (Bulgaria, Hungary, Italy, Greece, ... ). Disparities therefore remain high, with children in Lithuania having a probability of being killed in a road traffic accident seven time higher than in Sweden.

Sweden, the best performing country in terms of child road mortality, hosted the event as a leader in the field, but also as the country with the incoming Council Presidency. Speakers at the briefing came from a variety of backgrounds, including a speaker from the Swedish Road Administration.

Morag Mackay from the European Child Safety Alliance gave an overview of the actions that needed to be taken at a European level to improve the safety of children as a fundamental right. The EU needs to implement a "multi-pronged approach" that will involve the introduction of stricter legislation, education campaigns and an improvement to the environmental surroundings where children live (traffic calming schemes, 30 mph zone, pedestrian walkways, cycle paths, ... ). The EU should also facilitate the exchange of best practice between countries (such as the THINK! campaign in the UK) and should follow this up to see if its recommendations have been put in place.

Many of the speakers at the event shared the belief that a separate reduction target was needed in order to make a real impact in the specific area of child deaths, and that this had to be combined with a concerted effort to improve cooperation with governments and planning authorities to secure safe environments for children.

For More Information

European Transport Safety Council