Road safety

Road accidents and injuries are biggest cause of mortality and disability among the youngest and most productive part of our societies. Road safety is a key element of sustainable transport policies creating healthier and wealthier societies. With this goal, WHO Europe has launched the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020 and a new health economic assessment tool for transport. Road-traffic crashes kill over 350 Europeans every day, or over 120 000 per year. Almost half of them are (...)

On 22 June 2010 the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) organized its 4th Annual PIN Conference. The latest results ranking Member States’ performance in road safety measures during 2009 were presented, and the 2010 PIN Award was granted to the best performing countries. Winners of the 2010 PIN Award are Ireland and Estonia, both countries having shown most effort and results on reducing road deaths. Representatives from both countries were present to receive the award and to (...)

EPHA offers its support for the Memorandum to the Belgian Presidency by the European Cyclists Federation, Fietsersbond and Gracq. It highlights key issues for bicycle users that these organisations would like to see high on the Presidency agenda and integrated into EU transport policies. In view of the coming adoption of important pieces of legislation in the field of transport such as the White Paper on a Sustainable Future for Transport, ECF has issued with Fietsersbond and Gracq, a (...)

On 9 February 2009, EPHA attended a press briefing organised by the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) held at the Swedish Permanent Representation on reducing child deaths through road safety. 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 (...)

EU road safety day part of a week of road safety events promoted by the United Nations focusing on improving road safety for youth. The United Nations has marked the first Global Road Safety week with a number of events and presentations around the world including, the EU road safety day on 27th April. The week had been called for by a UN General Assembly Resolution and its main theme was youth and road safety. In 2004 the theme of World Health Day had been road safety and the UN road (...)

The VOICE project of which EPHA is a partner has given its latest awards to two initiatives that could have positive and negative repercussions respectively on driving behaviour and the safety of all road users. The positive award goes to the car lease company LeasePlan Nederland N.V. for offering in-car assistance to keep safe speeds and distances as part of the Belonitor project. The negative award has been given to the car rental company Sixt in Germany for glamorising speed through one (...)

The European Parliament Transport and Tourism Committee adopted in November 2006 a report stating that there there should be an EU-wide zero alcohol limit for new drivers and as well as for professional commercial vehicle or bus drivers involved in passenger transport. According to the report, this is needed if the EU wants to seriously reduce the 40 000 recorded road fatalities every year. The own initiative report drafted by Ewa Hedkvist Petersen (PES, SE) responds to the mid-term (...)

The Voice project has given two awards for local communities or projects dedicated to promote the needs of disabled persons and improving road safety around schools. The Voice project has given a Mobility award to Neil Betteridge, as chairman and representative of the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC), for their work to promote the needs of disabled persons in the UK and to ensure that they have access to all modes of transport. The second Voice Mobility award goes to (...)

Efforts to improve Europe’s road safety record have gained momentum over the last few years. The following outlines the birth and progress of the Transport White Paper since 2001, the ambitions of the European Road Safety Action Programme, plus other road safety developments (and problems) up to the present day. IN A NUTSHELL... Adopted in 2001, the European Commission’s (EC) Transport White Paper concerns future common transport policy. The 130-page document proposes 60 (...)

The Voice project, of which EPHA is a partner, presented its annual award to promote good practice to protect vulnerable road users to Rob Tinlin, the mayor of Southen-on-Sea, on the Southern coast of England. This award grants the efforts to promote road safety in the city. Mr Tinlin has particularly procured public-private partnership for investment in various infrastructure measures, including several designed for vulnerable road users. Related awards Road Safety award to car (...)