Brussels, 25/07/2012 (Agence Europe) - Young people are twice as likely to lose their lives in a road accident as the rest of the population. It was on the basis of this alarming statistic that the Cypriot Presidency and the European Commission held the fourth European Road Safety Day in Nicosia on Wednesday 25 July, determined to get young people involved in making Europe's roads safer. This is a particularly important working theme for Cyprus, as the island is above the European average of young road accident victims.
Young people aged between 18 and 25 represent the largest group of road accident victims by far. Although this age group represents 10% of the European population, it accounts for 19% of traffic-related deaths. More than 30,000 young people lost their lives on the roads in 2010, the vast majority of them boys (80%). It is therefore vital to change drivers' behaviour. This is why the event held in Nicosia decided to emphasise creating a road safety-oriented culture among young people. The first action towards this was the launch of a new Facebook page of the European Youth Forum for Road Safety, to allow the community to exchange points of view. The various participants of the conference listed many good ideas already in place to protect young people from fatal accidents. For example, a maximum of two young people per car on Friday and Saturday nights, increased use of public transport, incentives to travel by bicycle, or making taxis cheaper for young people. But it is also a question of education and awareness, a process the parents should also be involved in, others argue. “Above all, we wish to create communication and information networks between participants, and trigger the active involvement of young people in road safety”, said George Morfakis, head of the road safety department within the Cypriot ministry of communication and public works.
European Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas was in Cyprus to show his support for the initiative. He shares the view that “the only way to continue to save lives is by changing young people's attitudes to driving”. He also had a more positive message to send out, pointing out that “the EU has made substantial progress in the last 10 years in the field of road safety”. He therefore has “high hopes that we can achieve our 'vision zero' objective. However, there is a lot to be done.” In fact, over the last decade, the number of young people between 18 and 25 killed on the roads has fallen by 49%, a sharper drop than the general trend, which was just 43%. Before it achieves its 'vision zero', the Commission hopes to halve all fatal accidents in Europe by 2020. (MD/transl.fl)