20,000 lives to save - Europe united against road deaths

A professional perspective from Graham Riley, road safety manager for Leeds City Council and former technical director of ACCESS-Eurocities for a new mobility culture , a Mobility Management Network for Europe and Beyond . Leeds has campaigned within Europe for a greater recognition of road safety in developing sustainable transport, particularly in the urban context.

Road crashes across the 'old' Europe, before the integration of the 10 new states in April of this year, cost the lives of more than 40,000 citizens each year - 20,000 of them in towns and cities.

While in the UK we have been used to working against a background of casualty reduction targets since 1987, and the then Department of Transport's visionary document Road Safety: The Next Steps, targets were not picked up at the Europe-wide level until 2001 when the European Commission, within its White Paper on Transport Policy, set the challenging target of a 50 per cent reduction in fatalities by the year 2010.

What does this mean for us in the UK?
We are already working towards targets set by our own government and have developed a sophisticated set of casualty reduction tools embracing engineering, enforcement, encouragement and education.

The good news is that the UK is one of the best performing member states in terms of roads deaths and casualties. With Sweden and the Netherlands, the UK is the safest place to be a road user, and each of these countries has sophisticated methods of data collection and analysis. That makes us very lucky. We think...

The reality is that it is very difficult to make an accurate comparison of casualties in different member states. While in the UK it is a statutory duty for police forces to gather road crash data (and we know even that system can be flawed), and highway authorities have a duty to analyse crash data and deliver remedial measures, in many countries no agency has that responsibility. In a recent information exchange with Bologna in northern Italy, for instance, it was disturbing to discover that none of the three police forces operating in the city either collect or compare data. Casualty data collection in hospitals does not as a matter of course record the cause of injuries, and the figures for road death and injury can only be estimated. Not the best starting point from which to develop targeted road safety work.

The European Commission recognises this and is especially keen, with the enlargement of Europe, to create an environment that actively encourages member states to aspire to the success we have enjoyed in the UK in reducing the severity of casualties. Many of us fail to realise the difference between our road use environment and that of some of our partners in Europe.

For instance, in Russia and some other ex-Eastern Bloc countries, drivers are not required to insure their cars. Russia did introduce compulsory insurance but then rescinded the law due to wholesale public lack of compliance. Vehicle safety standards are not as high as ours, and car occupant behaviour - such as the wearing of seat belts and drinking and driving - is reminiscent of the 60's here in the UK. These countries are not backward, far from it, but priorities in an economy that is racing to catch up with ours (and others) are somewhat different.

In June, 2003, the Commission published the European Road Safety Action Programme . Within this it outlines its vision to get in place the basics, such as accurate and consistent data collection across member states, and suggests some ways - including a significant emphasis on 'soft' measures - through which the 50 per cent reduction in fatalities might be achieved.

The publication of this document has already led to two exciting initiatives - the launch of the European Road Safety Charter and the introduction of annual European Road Safety Awards. Both of these are opportunities for local authorities to showcase their own good practice, make commitments to specific actions, and learn from the experiences of others. So far, more than 80 local authorities, members states and organisations, including European freight industry representatives, have signed the Charter, and made commitments to specific actions. At a recent ceremony five local authorities (Krakow, Aberdeen, Bromley, Hampshire and Ghent) received awards for their achievements in road safety.

Why sign up to the Charter and take an interest in the awards?
The answer is simple - to release resources from Europe to make roads safer locally.

While there has been awareness of the tragic toll of road use for many years, a greater emphasis has been placed on creating integrated transport networks across Europe (though there is still a long way to go to achieve this) and at the same time encourage more sustainable transport use. Road safety is now a priority and the Commission needs to be aware of the very wide range of activity we are involved in at the local level, not just the activities driven by our colleagues in the DfT.

The more information we share the greater the potential for transfer of good practice and development of new, as yet untried techniques. With a particular emphasis being placed on soft measures by the Commission, the time is right to show the benefits of delivering an integrated casualty reduction strategy with the road user, not the road environment, at its core.

Keep an eye on what is happening in Europe, and get involved where you can. Invest your experience today and reap the rewards in the near future. You will learn from the experience - and can play your part in saving 20,000 lives per year, every year, on Europe's roads.

For more information, please visit:

http://europa.eu.int/comm/transport/road/roadsafety/index_en.htm

http://www1.oecd.org/cem/topics/safety/index.htm

http://www.etsc.be/

http://www.lapri.org/fundo11.htm