The number of deaths by 2030 is unlikely to fall by half as initially forecast, but only by a quarter compared to the 2019 level, according to the EU Court of Auditors in its report published on Tuesday 12 March.
On Friday 8 March, the European Commission reported that little progress had been made by 2023 on road fatalities in the EU (see EUROPE 13368/17).
The Court concluded that, although the Commission has set up a comprehensive framework for taking action on road safety, it is still having difficulty monitoring Member States’ progress. In addition, the EU’s actions have not covered all risk areas and have not been sufficiently integrated. The Court also detected comparability issues in the Member States’ data sent to the Commission.
“We must bear in mind that Member States remain in the driving seat for certain measures that could have a direct impact on road safety, such as speed limit, alcohol limit, infrastructure design, and incentives for vehicle renewal.“, stressed Eva Lindström, member of the Court, at a press conference.
She also pointed out that infrastructure maintenance can have a major impact on the safety performance of newly-created infrastructure, and that there are major differences between Member States.
The Court made a number of recommendations to remedy these shortcomings: improve reporting on serious injuries and set performance targets; increase the focus on the causes of accidents and provide additional guidance covering all risk areas; envisage clearer prioritisation and an ex-post evaluation of EU co-financed projects with road safety objectives.
Read the report: https://aeur.eu/f/b9a (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)