Brussels, 31/03/2016 (Agence Europe) - Although Europe has made considerable progress in reducing road deaths and has the lowest mortality rate in the world, there is still progress to be made.
A European Commission study published on Thursday 31 March shows that, between 2001 and 2010, the number of deaths on Europe's roads fell by 43%. Since 2010, this figure has fallen by a further 17%. Europe's record in this area is better than any other region in the world: 51.5 deaths for every million inhabitants, compared to 106 in the United States and 174 globally. Szabolcs Schmidt, head of the European Commission's road safety unit, said that “we are in a situation which is hard to improve upon”. Nonetheless, the study highlights the fact that the number of deaths was unchanged between 2013 and 2014 and that the figures - described as “disappointing” by Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc - are still unchanged for 2015, when 26,000 people lost their lives.
The current stagnation in progress means that efforts must be redoubled if the EU is to achieve the strategic objective of halving the number of road deaths by 2020.
Although, since 2010, the member states have all made improvements in the field of road safety, their results are still fairly mixed. At the top of the class are Sweden (27 deaths per million inhabitants), the Netherlands (28) and Malta (26). On the other end of the scale, Romania and Bulgaria (95) and Latvia (94) produced the worst results. It is worth noting that of all deaths, 55% are killed in rural areas, 38% in urban areas and, finally, just 7% of victims lose their lives on motorways.
Progress slows down over the last three years. There are six main causes: - greater interaction in our cities between unprotected road users and users in vehicles; - steady rise in the number of elderly motorists; - a rise in the number of vulnerable road users (pedestrians, cyclists, drivers of motorised two-wheeled vehicles); - greater traffic density during the milder winters in Europe; - cuts to the resources earmarked for maintaining public highways and vehicles due to the economic downturn; - the emergence of new trends in user behaviour (for instance, distraction due to mobile telephones).
In addition to deaths, according to the Commission's estimates, 135,000 people - mostly vulnerable users - were seriously injured on Europe's roads in 2015. Bulc, said that “road accidents remind us of the fragility of human life, which can be cut short without warning”. She went on to point out that behind every death or injury, “there are no figures or percentages for this, but there are also family, friends and neighbours”.
Different measures. The high number of accidents (135,000) comes with a cost. The Commission puts the social cost (rehabilitation, medical care, material damage, etc.) of accidents leading to deaths or serious injuries at €100 billion at least. Well aware of the heavy cost of the measures to be taken in the future, “is there a price to human life”, Bulc asked.
To achieve the aim the European Union has set for itself (halving the number of road deaths by 2020), additional efforts need to be made. Commissioner Bulc called on the “member states to move towards change”. She stressed that the member states are the “main drivers” of this change, as day-to-day action in the field of road safety stems mainly from the national and local level. They are therefore called upon to step up the following measures: - enforcing the highway code; - developing and maintaining infrastructure; - carrying out education and awareness campaigns. The European Commission itself intervenes when it can genuinely add value, for instance, by proposing legislation allowing the cross-border prosecution of road traffic infringements or by laying down technical safety standards.
The future priorities. Technological progress, such as connected or semi-automated cars (which may, for instance, help to anticipate danger), may also prove highly effective in improving road safety, although this raises questions such as driver liability. In this area, there is still a long way to go. Schmidt said that “we still need to build this future and I don't think that we can expect anything concrete by 2020; it will take longer than that”. (Original version in French by Maëlle Didion, intern)