Brussels, 18/06/2014 (Agence Europe) - The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) PIN programme figures for the 2010-2013 period reveal a fall of approximately 18% in the death toll on Europe's roads. In 2013, 26,000 people lost their lives in car accidents and almost 200,000 were seriously injured, with sometimes irremediable consequences.
The ETSC regrets that the efforts made to reduce the number of fatal injuries on the roads have not been matched in reducing the number of those seriously injured on the roads. The European Commission is planning to introduce targets for the numbers of people seriously injured in road accidents, based on the European strategy for reducing road accidents by half between 2010 and 2020, which has proved effective. The ETSC is recommending the European Commission reduce the number of those seriously injured between 2015 and 2020 by 35%. The ETSC notes, however, that European efforts to harmonise data collection on the number of injuries, is proving productive.
PIN survey results on reducing fatal accidents show that Slovakia has made the most progress with a 37% reduction rate between 2010 and 2013. Spain, Greece and Portugal have also achieved reductions of more than 30% in the rate of fatal accidents during this period. The percentage reduction rate in Scandinavian countries, such as Sweden and Finland, however, has been less but the rate of fatal accidents in these countries is already low. Malta and Estonia, on the other hand, are dangerously at odds with this trend because in 2013 there were more deaths on the roads in these countries than in 2010. (MD)